^«Y  OF  pmsc^ 


I., 


i  «>  u 


(  i. 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


The  Rise  of  the  People  of  Israel.  A  brief, 
popular  essay  in  Epitomes  of  Three  Sciences,  also  con- 
taining Prof.  H.  Oldenberg's  * '  Study  of  Sanskrit "  and 
Prof.  J.  Jastrow's  "Aspects  of  Modern  Psychology." 
Pages,  140.  Cloth,  50  cents.  This  volume  will  be 
sent  to  purchasers  of  the  "Prophets,"  if  ordered  di- 
rect from  the  publishers,  for  25  cents. 


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324  dearborn  ST.,   CHICAGO. 


jp^£  L  "5  9 1922 


PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL 


POPULAR  SKETCHES  FROM 


OLD  TESTAMENT  HISTORY 


BY  y 

CARL  HEINRICH  CORNILL 

DOCTOR  OF  THEOLOGY  AND  PROFESSOR  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  HISTORY 
IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  KÖNIGSBERG 


TRANSLATED   BY 


SUTTON  F.  CORKRAN 


SECOND  EDITION 


CHICAGO 
THE    OPEN    COURT    PUBLISHING    COMPANY 

(LONDON:   17  JOHNSON'S  COURT,  FLEET  ST.,  E.  C.) 

1897 


Copyright  by 
The  Open  Court  Publishing  Co. 
Chicago,  III.,  1895, 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 


NO  BRANCH  of  science,  in  the  last  generation,  has 
undergone  such  a  profound  revolution  as  that  of 
Old  Testament  research.     In  place  of  the  traditional 
representation  of  the  rehgious  history  of  Israel  has 
been  substituted  a  rigorous  historical  mode  of  view, 
which  discovers  in  the   process  in  question  an  organic 
development,  and  assigns  to  each  event  its  logical  po- 
sition in  the  whole,  by  reference  to  which  all  the  facts 
are  severally  comprehended  and  explained.     At  first, 
even  professional  scholars  received  this  organic  view 
of  the  Old  Testament  with  repugnance  and  distrust ; 
for  it  was  no  light  task  to  abandon  a  position  that  for 
two  thousand  years  had  been  regarded  as  the  absolute 
truth.     But  by  that  power  of  conviction  which  always 
inheres  in  what  is  intrinsically  correct,  it  gradually  in- 
creased its  dominance  over  men's  minds,  and  has,  par- 
ticularly since  the  brilliant  and  fascinating  exposition 
of  Wellhausen's  History  of  Israel  of  the  year   1878, 
been  borne  onwards  in  an  irresistible  and  uninterrupted 
career  of  triumph. 

For  no  part  of  the  Old  Testament  hterature  has 
this  change  of  view  been  more  significant  and  momen- 
tous than  for  the  prophets,  whose  real  significance 


vi  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

could  only  now  be  understood  and  properly  valued. 
Whilst  according  to  the  traditional  view  the  prophets 
merely  deepened  and  broadened  in  single  points  the 
religion  of  Moses,  which  he  was  supposed  to  have 
promulgated  as  a  complete  and  finished  system,  it  now 
appeared  that  the  prophets  had  completely  revolution- 
ised the  religion  of  Israel,  that  it  was  wholly  through 
them  that  the  national  religion  founded  by  Moses  be- 
came a  religion  of  the  world,  and  that  it  was  they  who 
prepared  and  fitted  the  religion  of  Israel  to  become 
the  parent  of  Christianity. 

Truths  of  such  importance,  and  so  recently  ac- 
quired, concerning  things  which  affect  every  man's 
dearest  interests,  should  not  be  restricted  to  a  small 
band  of  scholars,  as  if  constituting  an  esoteric  doc- 
trine ;  but  every  educated  man  and  woman  has  a  right 
to  hear  and  to  know  about  them.  This  is  the  purpose 
which  this  little  book  is  designed  to  serve.  It  presup- 
poses no  special  knowledge,  but  seeks  simply  to  give 
a  popular  presentation  of  its  subject-matter.  It  ex- 
plains first  the  nature  and  import  of  Israelitic  prophecy: 
indicating  what  in  Israel's  own  view  a  prophet  was ; 
how  prophecy  is  to  be  explained,  and  what  position  it 
occupies  in  the  history  of  the  rehgion  of  Israel ;  what 
its  presuppositions  are,  and  in  what  manner,  thus,  it 
sheds  light  on  the  period  preceding  it.  To  this  is 
added  an  attempt  at  a  historical  valuation  of  Elijah, 
who  occupies  in  so  far  a  place  apart  as  we  possess 
nothing  written  from  him.  Next,  the  productions  of 
the  prophetic  Hterature  of  Israel  which  have  been  pre- 
served are  examined  in  the  chronological  order  estab- 
lished by  Old  Testament  inquiry  as  the  result  of  pro- 
found and  laborious  research.  The  historical  conditions 
and  the  contemporary  environment    of    the   various 


PREFACE.  vii 

prophets  are  portrayed,  their  significance,  their  pe- 
cuhar  original  achievements  briefly  characterised,  and 
finally  the  attempt  made  to  assign  and  establish  for 
each  prophet  in  the  developmental  process  of  the  reli- 
gion of  Israel  his  logical  and  organic  position — in  what 
respect  his  influence  was  promotive,  and  in  what  re- 
spect reactionary;  so  that  the  little  book  may  be  viewed 
as  a  brief  sketch,  giving  only  the  salient  and  important 
outlines,  of  the  religious  history  of  Israel  from  Moses 
down  to  the  time  of  the  Maccabees. 

The  book  grew  out  of  a  course  of  lectures  which  I 
was  invited  to  deliver  at  the  Freie  Deutsche  Hochstift 
in  my  native  city  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  at  the  re- 
quest of  its  indefatigable  director,  Prof.  V.  Valentin. 
I  accepted  this  invitation  with  pleasure  and  gratefully 
seized  the  opportunity  of  presenting  to  cultured  lay- 
men some  portrayal  of  this  grandest  event  in  the  his- 
tory of  religion  before  Christ.  The  idea  of  making  a 
book  out  of  my  unpretentious  sketch,  (it  does  not  claim 
to  be  more,  and  the  professional  scholar  will  recog- 
nise in  it  at  once  Wellhausen,  Kuenen,  Duhm,  Stade, 
Smend,  and  others,)  never  occurred  to  me,  and  I  was 
at  first  firm  in  my  refusal  to  publish  it.  But  the  so- 
licitations became  finally  so  pressing  and  kind  that  I 
found  it  impossible  not  to  accede  to  them,  and  over- 
came my  hesitation.  It  is  my  hope  that  the  printed 
book  will  have  as  good  results  as  the  spoken  word,  and 
accomplish  its  purpose  of  affording  to  persons  who 
are  deprived  of  access  to  the  latest  works  of  Old  Tes- 
tament science,  some  insight  into  its  results  and  into 
the  spirit  and  purpose  of  its  inquiries.  In  the  passages 
which  I  have  literally  cited  from  the  prophetic  books  I 
have,  of  course,  complied  with  the  requirements  of 
textual  criticism,  and  I  hope  that  my  readers  will  not 


vüi  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

take  it  amiss  if  they  are  frequently  found  to  depart  from 
the  traditional  text.^ 

May,  then,  my  unassuming  pages  contribute  their 
mite  towards  promoting  the  general  understanding  of 
Israelitic  prophecy,  and  winning  for  it  that  love  and 
admiration  which  cannot  fail  to  follow  on  its  being 
understood. 

C.    H.    CORNILL. 

Königsberg,  February,  1894. 

lln  the  English  translation  of  the  Bible  passages  the  Old  or  the  Revised 
Version  has  been  used  except  where  the  text  demanded  the  rendering  of  Pro- 
fessor Cornill.— 7Va«j. 


PUBLISHERS'  PREFACE. 


"  Search  the  Scriptures." — SL  John,  V.,  3g, 

THE  Bible  is  unqualifiedly  that  collection  of  books 
in  the  literature  of  mankind  which  has  exercised 
the  most  potent  influence  over  the  civilisation  of  the 
world.  Yet  it  is  little  read,  and  where  it  is  read  it  is 
much  misunderstood.  The  pious  exalt  it  as  the  word 
of  God,  and  believe  in  its  very  letter,  as  best  they  can  ; 
while  infidels  point  out  its  incongruities  and  pillory  its 
monstrosities.  Need  we  add  that  only  the  mistaken 
pretensions  of  the  former  justify  the  caustic  sarcasm  of 
the  latter? 

If  we  read  the  Bible,  not  with  an  open  mind,  but 
devoutly,  with  a  complete  submission  of  judgment, 
we  are  as  apt  to  distort  its  meaning,  and  render  our- 
selves unfit  to  comprehend  its  purport,  as  is  the  icon- 
oclast, who  goes  over  its  pages  with  no  other  intention 
than  to  seek  out  absurdities. 

There  is,  however,  another  attitude  which  we  can 
take  towards  the  Bible.  It  is  that  of  a  reader  impar- 
tial in  investigation  and  eager  to  learn. 

He  who  studies  the  Bible,  not  as  a  partisan,  but 
as  a  scholar,  in  the  same  spirit  that  the  historian  studies 
Greek  and  Roman  literature,  finds  the  Biblical  books 


3t  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL, 

invaluable,  for  they  are  the  precious  documents  of  the 
religious  evolution  of  mankind.  Such  men  as  Goethe, 
Humboldt,  and  Huxley,  the  great  pagans  of  modern 
times,  had  only  words  of  praise  for  the  Bible ;  they 
found  in  it  an  inexhaustible  source  of  wisdom  and 
poetry. 

The  work  of  earnest  study,  comparison,  and  inves- 
tigation has  been  undertaken  by  a  number  of  intrepid 
scholars,  who  have  devoted  their  lives  to  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  Scriptures.  The  foundation  w^as  laid  by 
what  is  commonly  called  ''text-critique,"  or  **the 
Lower  Criticism,''  which  implies  a  collation  of  the  va- 
rious manuscripts,  a  restoration  of  doubtful  readings, 
and  the  determination  of  exact  definitions  of  words  or 
phrases.  This  done,  ''the  Higher  Criticism"  can  at- 
tack the  more  important  problems  of  the  origin  of  a 
book,  its  place  in  history,  its  significance,  and  the  pur- 
pose which  the  author  had  in  view  in  writing  it. 

It  is  a  matter  of  course  that  the  methods  of  the 
Higher  Criticism  alone  enable  us  to  understand  and 
appreciate  the  Bible.  Nevertheless  earnest  believers 
are  full  of  anxiety  on  account  of  the  negative  results  of 
scientific  Bible-research,  which,  in  their  opinion,  threat- 
ens to  destroy  Christianity,  and  appears  to  leave  noth- 
ing tangible  to  believe  in  or  to  hope  for.  The  Higher 
Criticism  appears  alarming  to  the  old  orthodoxy,  for 
nothing  seems  left  which  can  be  relied  upon. 

Orthodoxy  means  "right  doctrine,"  and  it  is  but 
natural  to  think  that  if  the  old  conception  of  orthodoxy 
has  become  untenable,  scepticism  will  prevail,  and 
that  we  must  be  satisfied  with  the  resigned  position 
of  agnosticism,  proclaiming  that  nothing  can  be  known 
for  certain.  But  because  the  old  conception  of  ortho- 
doxy fails,  there  is  no  reason  to  say  that  orthodoxy 


PREFACE.  xi 

itself,  in  the  original  and  proper  sense  of  the  term,  is  a 
vain  hope.  Bear  in  mind  that  the  endeavor  to  estab- 
lish an  unquestionable  orthodoxy  on  the  solid  founda- 
tion of  evidence  is  founded  in  the  very  nature  of  science. 

The  negations  of  the  Biblical  criticism  are  only  a 
preliminary  work,  which  prepares  the  way  for  positive 
issues.  Scepticism  may  be  a  phase  through  which  we 
have  to  pass,  but  it  is  not  the  end.  The  final  result 
will  be  the  recognition  of  a  new  and  a  higher  ortho- 
doxy— the  orthodoxy  of  provable  truth,  which  discards 
the  belief  in  the  letter,  but  preserves  the  spirit,  and 
stands  in  every  respect  as  high  above  the  old  ortho- 
doxy as  astronomy  ranks  above  astrology. 

Prof.  Carl  Heinrich  Cornill  is  an  orthodox  Chris- 
tian. He  holds  the  chair  of  Old  Testament  history  in 
the  venerable  University  of  Königsberg.  But,  being  a 
Christian  and  at  the  same  time  a  scientific  man,  he  has 
devoted  his  life  to  the  investigation  of  the  religious 
evolution  of  the  Israelitic  and  Christian  faiths.  Thus 
he  serves  both  Christ  and  Science. 

Is  not  this  position  inconsistent?  Does  it  not  in- 
volve that  a  critic  serves  two  masters?     Let  us  see. 

What  shall  a  Christian  scholar  do  if  the  injunc- 
tions of  Christ  come  into  conflict  with  science?  First 
he  may  doubt  the  exactness  of  the  scientific  argument, 
and  keep  his  judgment  suspended  until  better  evidence 
is  forthcoming.  But  suppose  the  evidence  comes  and 
the  conflict  still  remains?  Exactly  in  anticipation  of 
such  possibilities  the  opinion  is  often  set  up  that  it  is 
wrong  for  a  Christian  to  subject  the  documents  of  his 
faith  to  a  scientific  critique,  and  he  is  requested  to  ac- 
cept them  blindly  without  inquiry. 

We  venture  to  differ,  and  would  say,  as  it  is  a  man's 
duty  to  investigate  nature  and  to  invent  machinery  for 


xii  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  sake  of  his  bodily  prosperity,  so  it  is  the  more  his 
duty  to  inquire  into  the  central  problem  of  life,  which 
is  religion,  so  that  he  may  the  better  learn  to  take  care 
of  his  soul.  Investigation  is  a  religious  duty.  In  this 
sense  Christ  says  :  *' Search  the  Scriptures  ;  for  in  them 
ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life;  and  they  are  they  which 
testify  of  me." 

Christ  himself  requests  us  to  search,  and  should 
the  results  of  our  search  really  come  into  conflict  with 
Christ's  injunctions,  must  we  not  assume  that  there  is 
something  wrong  either  in  our  science  or  in  our  concep- 
tion of  Christ?  Instead  of  giving  up  all  investigation 
for  this  reason,  we  must,  on  the  contrary,  continue  to 
search  until  we  find  both  Christ  and  Science  in  perfect 
agreement. 

But  there  is  danger  in  superficiality  !  Some  take  a 
few  apparently  obvious  but  one-sided  observations  as 
the  final  verdict  of  science,  while  others  worship  a 
Christ  who  is  merely  a  pagan  idol  that  has  received  a 
Christian  finish. 

Science  is  often  regarded  as  a  human  invention  in 
which  sense  it  is  considered  as  profane  and  contrasted 
to  the  truth  of  God.  But  is  Science  really  a  human 
invention?  Can  man  fashion  Science  as  he  pleases? 
Is  it  an  expression  of  his  subjectivism?  Can  its  propo- 
sitions be  suited  to  our  likes  and  dislikes?  Certainly 
not !  On  the  contrary.  Science  is  a  revelation  of  truth, 
and  its  nature  is  stern  and  unalterable  objectivity. 
Science  is  superhuman,  and  scientific  truth  partakes 
of  that  eternity  which  is  predicated  of  God  ;  for,  in- 
deed the  truth  is  of  God.  If  Science  is  truly  Science, 
it  is  God's  revelation,  and  he  who  is  afraid  of  a  conflict 
between  Religion  and  Science,  must  be  on  his  guard 
lest  his  Religion,  though  dear  to  him,  be  a  mere  su- 


PREFACE.  xiii 

perstition.  A  Religion  that  comes  into  conflict  with 
Science  is  doomed,  be  it  ever  so  pleasing  to  the  human 
heart.  Religion  must  always  remain  in  accord  with 
Science,  for  Science  is  not  profane  ;  Science  is  holy. 
If  God  ever  spoke  to  man,  Science  is  the  fiery  bush. 
Science  is  a  religious  revelation. 

Professor  Cornill,  in  speaking  of  the  scientist's  free- 
dom of  investigation,  says  : 

*'Am  I  not  speaking  in  behalf  of  the  most  bound- 
less and  devotionless  subjectivism?  Indeed  not.  I 
demand  complete  freedom  only  for  scientific  criticism, 
and  that  carries  within  itself  its  own  corrective.  Sci- 
ence is  a  sovereign  power,  which  proceeds  in  accord- 
ance with  rules  of  its  own,  yet  is  unconditionally  bound 
to  law :  without  law,  without  discipliiie,  no  true  science 
is  conceivable.  But  to  that  which  has  been  acquired 
through  strict  and  methodical  scientific  research,  we 
are  bound  to  bow  unconditionally,  be  it  welcome  to  us 
or  not ;  confidently  trusting  that,  like  every  good  gift, 
so  also  science  is  not  a  work  of  the  Devil,  but  comes 
from  God." 

We  seek  for  catholicity  in  Religion,  and  lo,  v/e  have 
it  in  Science,  for  we  may  define  Science  as  that  upon 
which  all  those  who  thoroughly  understand  a  problem 
must  finally  agree.  Science  digs  down  to  the  bed-rock 
of  truth  and  if  anything  can  reveal  to  us  the  bed-rock 
of  ages  upon  which  our  religious  faith  rests,  it  is  Sci- 
ence. 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Science  is  sufficient, 
but  we  do  say  that  Science  is  indispensable.  Mere 
intellectual  comprehension,  it  is  true,  has  no  saving 
power  ;  it  is  without  avail  if  the  emotional  side  of 
man's  soul  remains  neglected,  for  the  heart  is  after 
all  the  mainspring  of  our  actions.     But  the  heart,  if 


xiv  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

not  illumined  by  the  head,  is  like  a  man  groping  in 
the  dark.  Disregard  of  Science  leads  men  astray,  and 
we  do  not  hesitate  to  brand  a  contempt  of  Science  as 
a  religious  fault,  as  a  sin.  It  is  not  based  upon  strength 
of  faith,  but  indicates  a  lack  of  Faith,  and,  indeed,  it  is 
the  expression  of  the  highest  impertinence  and  arro- 
gance a  man  is  capable  of,  that  of  raising  his  opinion, 
his  private  belief  of  what  the  Truth  ought  to  be,  against 
actual  Truth,  the  Truth  as  it  is  revealed  to  the  world. 
Genuine  Religion  will  always  encourage  Science. 
We  must  investigate  and  acquire  knowledge,  we  must 
exercise  critique,  and  we  must  respect  the  authority 
of  scientific  demonstration.  But  our  knowledge  must 
become  conviction,  and  conviction,  if  it  becomes  the 
motive  power  of  a  moral  life,  is  called  Faith.  There 
is  no  merit  in  belief.  A  blind  acceptance  of  religious 
traditions  is  not  recommendable ;  but  Faith,  that  is,  a 
living  conviction  well  founded  upon  a  basis  which  we 
know  to  be  the  Truth,  is  the  ultimate  aim  of  Religion. 

Paul  Carus, 

Manager  of  The  Open  Court  Publishing  Co. 

P.  S. — As  it  was  impossible  to  send  proofs  of  this 
book  to  Mr.  Sutton  F.  Corkran,  who  lives  in  Europe, 
Mr.  Thomas  J.  McCormack  has  carefully  revised  the 
translation  and  collated  the  manuscript  with  the  ori- 
ginal, and  he  is  responsible  for  its  final  form. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

The  Meaning  of  Prophecy      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         i 

The  Religion  of  Moses        .......  i6 

The  Early  Prophets. — Elijah. — Elisha  .         .         .         .27 

Amos 37 

Hosea .       47 

Isaiah. — Micah  ........  57 

The  Reaction  Against  the  Prophets. — Micah  (Chaps.  6-7). — 

Zephaniah. — Nahum. — Habakkuk  .         .         .         .71 

Deuteronomy      .         .  ......  80 

Jeremiah         ..........       91 

The  Babylonian  Exile 108 

Ezekiel 115 

The  Literary  Achievements  of  the  Exile    .         .         .         .  125 

Deutero-Isaiah .131 

The  Return  from  the  Captivity. — Haggai. — Zechariah       .  145 

Ezra  and  Nehemiah. — Malachi 155 

The  Later  Prophets. — Joel. — Obadiah. — Isaiah  (Chaps.  24- 

27). — Zechariah  (Chaps.  9-14) 164 

Jonah  and  Daniel.— The  Maccabees. — Conclusion         .        ,     170 


THE  MEANING  OF  PROPHECY. 


THERE  is  none  of  us  but  knows  of  the  existence 
of  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  having 
learnt  in  the  Sabbath-school  the  outlandish  names  of 
those  sixteen  men,  and  on  account  of  their  very  un- 
wontedness  perhaps  retained  them  in  the  memory. 
Possibly,  also,  some  one  or  other  of  the  so-called 
apophthegms  from  their  writings  have  remained  famil- 
iar to  us.  But  here  our  acquaintance  ceases.  Who 
those  men  were,  what  they  aspired  for  and  did,  what 
they  were  for  their  time,  and  what  they  still  are  for  us, 
the  average  educated  person  of  to-day  may  have  some 
dim  inkling,  but  in  no  wise  a  correct  or  clear  idea. 
Nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at.  Neither  can  any  one  be 
blamed  for  it.  If,  in  general,  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  are  not  easily  understood  by  the  laity,  this 
is  especially  true  as  regards  the  prophetic  books.  They 
are  in  the  veriest  sense  ' '  books  with  seven  seals. "  Does 
not  Isaiah  himself  in  a  very  remarkable  passage  com- 
pare prophecy  to  a  sealed  book,  of  which  the  mere 
perusal  does  not  suffice.     Not  that  the  prophets  wrote 


2  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

in  an  especially  obscure  or  abstruse  style.  The  diffi- 
culty of  understanding  them  is  not  of  the  kind  that 
confronts  us  when  reading  Dante's  Divina  Comedia,  or 
the  second  part  of  Faust,  though  such  instances  do  oc- 
cur in  the  prophetic  literature,  as,  for  example,  in  the 
visions  of  the  book  of  Zechariah.  No,  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  mere  words  of  the  prophetic  writings  is 
mostly  simple  ;  but  in  perusing  them  the  reader  has  a 
two-fold  sensation  :  either  what  is  said  appears  to  him 
as  self-evident,  as  being  nothing  wonderful  or  impor- 
tant, or  it  is  quite  unintelligible  to  him,  because  he 
does  not  know  what  the  prophet  is  striving  after,  what 
he  alludes  to,  nor  what  are  the  circumstances  and  sit- 
uations he  may  be  considering.  Both  these  impres- 
sions are  justified  and  well-founded. 

The  Israelitish  prophecy  is  a  distinctly  historical 
event,  and  for  understanding  it  a  thorough  and  precise 
knowledge  of  the  religious  and  profane  history  of  the 
Jews  is  absolutely  necessary :  a  thorough  and  precise 
knowledge  of  the  religious  history,  so  as  to  enable  us 
to  judge  what  that  which  appears  to  us  self-evident 
meant  in  the  mouth  and  at  the  time  of  the  man  who 
first  spoke  it ;  and  a  precise  and  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  profane  history  of  the  Israelites,  so  as  to  under- 
stand the  relations  under  which  and  in  which  the 
prophets  acted,  and  towards  which  their  efforts  were 
directed.  It  is  no  easy  matter  to  obtain  such  a  thor- 
ough and  complete  command  of  the  religious  and  sec- 
ular history  of  the  Israelites.  This  goal  is  to  be  reached 


THE  MEANING  OF  PROPHECY.  3 

only  by  much  labor  and  on  circuitous  paths,  for  the  Is- 
raelitish  narrative,  as  it  lies  before  us  in  the  books  of 
the  Old  Testament,  gives  a  thoroughly  one-sided  and 
in  many  respects  incorrect  picture  of  the  profane  his- 
tory, and  on  the  other  hand  an  absolutely  false  repre- 
sentation of  the  religious  history  of  the  people,  and 
has  thus  made  the  discovery  of  the  truth  v^ell-nigh  im- 
possible. 

At  the  time  when  the  historical  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  were  put  into  the  final  form  in  which  they 
now  lie  before  us,  during  and  after  the  Babylonian 
exile,  the  past  was  no  longer  understood.  Men  were 
ashamed  of  it.  They  could  not  understand  that  in  the 
days  of  old  all  had  been  so  completely  different,  and 
therefore  did  all  in  their  power  to  erase  and  blot  out  in 
their  accounts  of  the  past  whatever  at  this  later  date 
might  be  a  cause  of  offence. 

In  the  same  manner  the  Arabs,  after  their  conver- 
sion to  Islam,  purposely  obliterated  all  traces  of  the 
era  of  ''folly,"  as  they  term  the  pre-Islamitic  period 
of  their  existence,  so  that  it  gives  one  the  greatest 
difficulty  to  get  in  any  wise  a  clear  picture  of  the  early 
Arabic  paganism.  The  history  of  the  German  nation 
has  also  an  analogous  spectacle  to  show  in  the  blind 
and  ill-advised  zeal  of  the  Christian  converts  who  sys- 
tematically destroyed  the  old  pagan  literature,  which 
a  man  like  Charles  the  Great  had  gathered  together 
with  such  love  and  appreciation.  This,  luckily,  the 
men  to  whom  we  owe  the  compilation  and  final  redac- 


4  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

tion  of  the  ancient  Israelitish  literature  did  not  do ; 
they  were  satisfied  with  emendations  and  corrections, 
and  left  enough  standing  to  afford,  at  least  to  the 
trained  eye  of  the  modern  critic,  a  sufficient  ground- 
work for  unravelling  the  truth. 

The  newest  phase  of  Old  Testament  investigation 
has  succeeded  in  raising  this  veil,  now  more  than  two 
thousand  years  old,  and  through  an  act  similar  to  that 
of  Copernicus,  by  which,  so  to  speak,  the  narrative  was 
turned  upside  down,  has  brought  out  the  real  historical 
truth.  I  can  assert  without  any  personal  presumption, 
as  I  am  only  a  worker  and  not  a  discoverer  in  this  par- 
ticular field,  that  a  thorough  comprehension  of  the  Is- 
raelitish prophecy  has  only  been  possible  within  the 
last  twenty-five  years,  as  it  is  only  since  this  date  that 
the  true  course  and  the  real  development  of  the  Is- 
raelitish religious  history  has  been  ascertained,  and 
because  also  the  discovery  and  deciphering  of  the  cune- 
iform inscriptions  have  given  us  a  more  thorough  un- 
derstanding of  the  secular  history  of  ancient  Israel. 
I  may  hope,  therefore,  in  the  remarks  which  are  to 
follow  and  to  which  I  now  ask  your  attention,  to  be 
able  to  offer  something  new  to  such  of  my  hearers  as 
have  not  followed  the  latest  developments  of  Old  Tes- 
tament research. 

But  before  we  enter  upon  our  study  of  the  Israe- 
litish prophecy,  we  must  first  answer  the  question, 
*<What  is  a  prophet?"     It  will  be  seen  that  the  very 


THE  MEANING  OF  PROPHECY.  5 

definition  of  the  term  is  beset  with  difficulties  and  mis- 
comprehenions. 

We  all  use  the  word  '* prophet,"  and  have  some 
sort  of  idea  of  what  we  mean.  But  if  we  should  be 
asked  what  we  meant,  our  answer  would  probably  be  : 
*'  That  is  clear  and  intelligible  enough.  A  prophet  is  a 
man  who  predicts  the  future.  This  is  plainly  indicated 
in  the  name:  npo  means  'before,'  and  cp-qjxi  *I  say'; 
hence,  7tpoq)7]rr}^,  prophet,  means  a  foreteller."  And 
this  will  apparently  be  confirmed  by  the  subject,  for 
all  the  so-called  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament  busied 
themselves  with  the  future,  and  according  to  the  pop- 
ular view  their  special  duty  and  importance  consists  in 
having  foretold  the  coming  of  Christ.  But,  however 
widespread  this  view  may  be  and  however  generally 
the  interpretation  be  accepted,  it  is  nevertheless  in- 
correct, and  in  no  wise  just  to  the  character  and  to  the 
importance  of  the  Israelitish  prophecy.  That  this  can 
never  have  been  the  original  conception  of  the  Israe- 
lites, may  be  thoroughly  proved  by  an  irrefutable  ety- 
mological argument.  The  Semitic  languages  generally 
do  not  possess  the  power  of  forming  compound  words  ; 
consequently,  the  idea  of  foretelling  cannot  be  ex- 
pressed in  them  by  a  simple  word.  Even  the  Greek 
word  Tipocprjrt]?,  in  spite  of  its  obvious  etymology,  does 
not  possess  this  meaning;  the  men  who  foresee  and 
foretell  the  future  the  Greek  calls  //arrriS";  to  call  Kal- 
chas,  or  Teiresias,  prophetes  would  have  been  wrong  in 
Greek. 


6  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL, 

If  we  wish  to  gain  a  clear  understanding  of  the  Is- 
raelitish  prophecy,  we  must  first  of  all  determine  what 
the  Israelites  themselves  understood  by  a  prophet. 
We  find  nowhere  in  the  Old  Testament  a  clear  defini- 
tion of  the  term  ;  we  must  seek,  accordingly,  to  arrive  at 
its  interpretation  by  another  way.  And  that  way  is  the 
etymological.  In  no  language  are  words  originally  mere 
empty  sounds,  conventional  formulae  ;  they  are  always 
proper  names.  Man  seizes  upon  some  salient  fea- 
ture, some  characteristic  property  of  the  thing  to  be 
defined,  and  names  and  defines  the  thing  according  to 
that  property.  Thus  the  science  of  language  grants  us 
an  insight  into  periods  and  times  far  back  of  all  his- 
torical tradition,  and  we  can,  on  the  basis  of  the  sci- 
ence of  language,  reconstruct  the  history  of  civilisa- 
tion and  the  ethics  of  the  remotest  periods ;  for  the 
names  of  a  language  are,  so  to  speak,  the  precipitates 
of  the  civilisation  and  moral  views  of  the  people  in- 
venting them. 

When  the  common  word  for  father  in  all  the  Indo- 
Germanic  languages  denotes  the  supporter  and  bread- 
winner, it  is  to  be  clearly  seen  from  this  fact  that  the 
old  Aryans  looked  upon  fatherhood  not  merely  as  a 
natural  relationship,  but  as  a  moral  duty,  that  to  them 
the  father  was  not  in  the  first  place  a  begetter,  but  also 
the  food-giver,  the  supporter,  the  protector  and  pro- 
vider of  his  family,  that  the  original  heads  of  families 
of  the  Indo-Europeans  were  not  rude  savages,  but  men 
of  deep  ethical  feelings,  who  had  already  higher  moral 


THE  MEANING  OF  PROPHECY,  7 

perceptions  than  the  average  man  of  the  present  day. 
And  when  our  word  daughter  (^Tochter),  which  can  be 
traced  through  a  number  of  Indo-Germanic  languages, 
and  therefore  belongs  to  the  general  Indo-Germanic 
primitive  stock,  means  in  reality  the  milker^  we  may 
again  draw  from  this,  very  important  conclusions  re- 
specting the  civilisation  of  those  early  times  :  we  may 
conclude  that  the  heads  of  the  Indo-Germanic  tribes 
were  engaged  in  raising  cattle,  and  that  all  the  work 
was  carried  on  by  the  family  itself,  that  the  institution 
of  slavery  was  entirely  foreign  to  them,  for  which  we 
have  the  further  positive  proof  that  the  Indo-Germanic 
languages  possess  no  word  in  common  for  this  idea, 
that  it  did  not  yet  exist  when  they  separated  from  one 
another.  And  now,  to  take  two  examples  from  the 
Semitic  group  of  languages  which  is  immediately  occu- 
pying our  attention,  when  the  common  Semitic  word 
for  king,  melek,  denotes,  according  to  the  root-meaning 
still  preserved  in  the  Aramaic,  the  ''counsellor";  when 
the  common  Semitic  word  for  God,  ^/,  denotes  etymo- 
logically  the  ''goal,"  that  is,  him  or  that  to  which  all 
human  longing  aspires  and  must  aspire  ;  when,  there- 
fore, by  this  word  for  God  religion  is  defined  by  the 
early  Semites  as  a  problem  for  man  with  a  promise 
of  its  final  solution,  it  follows  with  irrefutable  clearness 
that  the  much  defamed  and  much  despised  Semites, 
are  in  no  wise  such  an  inferior  race,  or  such  worthless 
men,  as  it  is  unfortunately  at  the  present  day  the  fash- 
ion to  depict  them. 


8  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

After  this  short  digression  now,  let  us  turn  our  at- 
tention to  the  attempt  to  explain  the  ancient  Israelitish 
notions  of  the  character  of  a  prophet  by  etymology. 
Here,  however,  we  must  point  out  the  very  important 
fact,  that  with  the  original  etymological  sense,  the  real 
meaning  of  the  word  at  the  time  we  actually  meet  it, 
is  very  far  from  determined,  for  both  language  and  indi- 
viduals words  have  their  history.  Thus,  the  word  mar- 
shal means  etymologically  a  ''groom"  or  ''hostler," 
yet  at  the  present  day  we  understand  by  this  word 
something  quite  different  from  a  groom.  It  is  the  very 
task,  in  fact,  of  the  history  of  language  and  of  civilisa- 
tion to  show  how  the  actual  traditional  meaning  has 
been  developed  from  the  primitive  etymological  sig- 
nification. 

The  Hebrew  language  calls  the  prophet  nabi.  It 
immediately  strikes  us,  that  this  word  has  as  little  an 
obvious  Hebrew  etymology  as  the  word  kolfen  (priest) 
or  as  the  specifically  Israelitic  name  of  God,  which  we 
are  in  the  habit  of  pronouncing  Jehovah.  Now,  if  we 
are  unable  to  explain  the  word  näbi  satisfactorily  from 
the  Hebrew,  a  most  important  conclusion  follows  :  the 
word  cannot  be  specifically  Israelitish,  but  must  have 
been  transplanted  to  Israel  before  the  historical  period. 
We  must  therefore  turn  to  the  other  Semitic  languages 
for  information,  and  must  assume  that  the  home  of  the 
word  in  question  is  to  be  sought  for  in  that  branch  of 
the  Semitic  group  where  the  etymology  is  still  plain 
and  lucid.     We  still  meet  with  the  root  naba'a  in  the 


THE  MEANING  OF  PROPHECY,  g 

Assyrian-Babylonian  and  in  the  Arabic.  In  Assyrian 
it  simply  means  ' '  to  speak, "  ' '  to  talk, "  '  <  to  announce, " 
''to  name,"  the  substantive  derived  from  it  meaning 
''announcement,"  "  designation";  from  it  comes  also 
the  name  of  the  well-known  Babylonian  god  JVedo, 
Babylonian  JVadu,  which  is  to  be  found  as  the  first  part 
of  a  large  number  of  Babylonian  names,  such  as  Nabo- 
polassar  and  Nebuchadnezzar ;  whilst  it  also  follows 
from  the  original  root  that  this  Babylonian  god  Nabu, 
is  the  god  of  wisdom,  of  science,  of  the  word,  and  of 
speech,  whom  the  Greeks  identified  with  Hermes,  and 
after  whom  to  the  present  day  the  planet  Mercury  is 
named. 

Considered  by  the  light  of  this  Assyrian-Babylonian 
etymology  the  Hebraic  näH  would  have  the  meaning 
of  speaker,  and  ordinarily  that  would  satisfy  us  ;  for  in 
former  days  the  efficacy  of  a  prophet  was  entirely  per- 
sonal and  oral.  But  every  orator  is  not  a  preacher, 
and  not  every  one  who  speaks,  a  prophet ;  therefore 
in  this  Assyrian-Babylonian  etymology  the  most  im- 
portant point  is  lacking,  namely,  all  indication  of  the 
characteristic  quality  of  the  prophetic  speech.  We  ob- 
tain this  through  the  Arabic.  The  primitive  Semitic 
type  has  been  preserved  most  purely  in  the  Arabic, 
and  the  Arabic  language  has  therefore  for  the  scientific 
investigation  of  the  Semitic  languages  the  same  impor- 
tance as  Sanskrit  has  for  the  Indo-Germanic,  and,  in- 
deed, a  much  higher  one,  for  Arabic  is  more  closely 
related  to  the  primitive   Semitic  than  is  Sanskrit  to 


10  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  primitive  Indo-Germanic.  Now,  the  Arabic  has 
also  the  root  naba'a,  but  never  in  the  general  sense  of 
''speaking,"  as  in  the  Assyrian-Babylonian,  but  in  the 
thoroughly  special  sense  of  ''proclaiming,"  "  announc- 
ing," naba'a  or  anba^a  being  he  who  proclaims  some- 
thing definite,  or  has  to  carry  out  some  mandate. 
The  specific  significance  lies  therefore  in  the  Arabic 
root,  that  this  speaker  discourses  not  of  himself,  nor  of 
anything  special  to  himself,  but  on  some  distinctive 
instigation,  or  as  agent  for  some  other  person  ;  accord- 
ing to  this  the  nabi  would  be  the  deputed  speaker,  he 
who  has  to  declare  some  special  communication,  who 
has  to  deliver  some  message,  and  here  we  have  lighted 
upon  the  real  essence  and  pith  of  the  matter. 

That  a  trace  of  this  fundamental  signification  has 
been  preserved  in  the  Hebrew,  can  be  proved  from  a 
very  characteristic  passage  in  Exodus.  Moses  has  de- 
clined the  charge  to  appear  before  Pharaoh,  saying  : 
"I  am  not  eloquent  .  .  .  but  I  am  slow  of  speech  and 
of  a  slow  tongue."  And  then  God  says  to  him  that  his 
brother  Aaron  can  speak  well,  he  shall  be  his  spokes- 
man, and  this  is  thus  expressed :  "  Behold,  I  have 
made  thee  a  god  to  Pharaoh,  and  Aaron,  thy  brother, 
shall  be  thy  prophet :  thou  shalt  speak  all  that  I  com- 
mand thee,  and  Aaron,  thy  brother,  shall  speak  unto 
Pharaoh."  Thus  Aaron  is  prophet  to  Moses,  because 
he  speaks  for  him ;  he  is  his  spokesman.  Who  it  is 
that  gives  the  charge  and  speaks  in  the  prophet,  so 
called,  is  not  far  to  seek  :  it  is  God.     And  with  this 


THE  MEANING  OF  PROPHECY.  ii 

meaning  the  technical  sense  of  the  Greek  word  npo- 
cprjtr}'^  agrees  in  the  most  wonderful  manner.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Greeks  the  npocpyr?]^  is  he  who  interprets 
and  translates  into  clear,  intelligible  language  the  in- 
comprehensible oracles  of  the  gods  :  at  Dodona,  the 
rustling  of  the  sacred  oak  of  Zeus  ;  at  Delphi,  the  inar- 
ticulate utterances  and  ecstatic  cries  of  the  Pythia.  In 
the  same  sense,  also,  Pindar  can  describe  himself  as  a 
prophet  of  the  muse,  because  he  speaks  only  what  the 
muse  inspires  in  him.  Thus,  in  the  Hebrew  nabi  we 
have  him  who  speaks  not  of  himself,  but  according  to 
higher  command,  in  the  name  and  as  the  messenger  of 
God  to  Israel ;  in  the  Greek  n pocprjrr]^,  him  who  trans- 
mits and  explains  to  those  around  him  the  oracles  of 
the  gods. 

Thus  is  the  conception  of  the  prophet,  as  he  ap- 
pears to  us  in  the  Israelitish  books,  thoroughly  ex- 
plained. All  these  men  have  the  consciousness  of 
not  acting  in  their  own  personal  capacities,  of  not  pro- 
nouncing the  sentiments  of  their  own  minds,  but  as 
the  instruments  of  a  Higher  Being,  who  acts  and  speaks 
through  them  ;  they  feel  themselves  to  be,  as  Jeremiah 
expresses  it  once  in  a  remarkably  characteristic  verse, 
*'the  mouth  of  God." 

As  the  Arabic  language  gives  us  the  only  satisfactory 
explanation  of  the  word,  we  must  suppose  Arabia  to 
be  the  home  of  prophecy,  and  as  a  fact  the  visionary 
and  ecstatic  elements  which  attach  to  prophesying, 
and  which  the  Israelitish  prophecies  alone  overcame 


12  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  cast  off,  savor  somewhat  of  the  desert.  The  first 
great  prophet  of  whom  we  find  an  account  in  the  Old 
Testament,  EHjah,  was  not  a  native  of  Palestine  proper, 
but  came  from  the  country  east  of  Jordan,  the  boun- 
dary-land, where  it  has  been  proved  that  a  strong  mix- 
ture of  Arabic  blood  took  place.  Besides,  the  other 
neighboring  tribes  had  also  their  prophets.  In  the  his- 
tory of  Elijah  we  meet  with  the  Phoenician  prophets 
of  Baal,  and  Jeremiah  also  speaks  of  prophets  in  all 
surrounding  countries. 

That  the  word  7iabi  has  in  fact  had  a  history,  and 
that  prophesying  was  looked  upon  originally  as  some- 
thing extraneous,  is  distinctly  testified  to  us  in  a  very 
remarkable  passage.  If  we  glance  over  the  history  of 
Israel,  the  prophet  Samuel,  after  Moses,  appears  as 
the  most  important  personage.  Now  Samuel,  in  the 
oldest  records  we  have  concerning  him,  is  never  called 
prophet,  but  always  ''seer,"  and  some  later  hand 
has  added  the  invaluable  explanatory  remark  that  that 
which  then  was  called  prophet,  was  called  in  olden 
times  in  Israel  ''seer." 

What  was  understood  in  those  older  days  by 
prophet,  we  learn  from  the  same  narrative,  where  it  is 
announced  to  Saul  as  a  sign  :  That  "it  shall  come  to 
pass  that  when  thou  art  come  thither  to  the  city,  that 
thou  shalt  meet  a  company  of  prophets  coming  down 
from  the  high  place  with  a  psaltery  and  a  tabret  and  a 
pipe  and  a  harp  before  them,  and  they  shall  prophesy: 
And  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  come  upon  thee,  and 


THE  MEANING  OF  PROPHECY,  13 

thou  shalt  prophesy  with  them.  '*  And  as  it  came  to 
pass  all  the  people  of  Gibea  asked  in  astonishment,  *'Is 
Saul  also  among  the  prophets?  '^  which  does  not  mean: 
*'  How  is  it  that  such  a  worldly-minded  man  finds  him- 
self in  the  company  of  such  pious  people?  "  but  is  to 
be  interpreted  as  meaning  :  '*  How  comes  a  person  of 
such  distinction  to  find  himself  in  such  low  company?  " 
In  these  prophets  of  the  time  of  Saul,  where  we  first 
meet  them,  we  have  the  type  of  the  original  form  which 
prophesying  assumed  on  Canaanite  soil ;  they  are  men 
after  the  manner  of  Mohammedan  fakirs,  or  dancing 
and  howling  dervishes,  who  express  their  religious  ex- 
altation through  their  eccentric  mode  of  life,  and  thus 
it  comes  that  the  Hebrew  word  hiihnabbe,  which  means 
*'to  live  as  a  prophet,"  has  also  the  signification  **to 
rave,  to  behave  in  an  unseemly  manner.'* 

The  genuine  counterpart  of  these  ecstatic  fakirs 
may  be  found  in  the  priests  of  Baal  at  the  time  of  Eli- 
jah, who  danced  round  the  altar  of  Baal  shouting  and 
cutting  themselves  with  knives,  in  order  to  produce  an 
impression  on  their  god.  Such  prophets  lived  together 
in  Israel  until  a  very  late  date  in  guilds,  the  so-called 
schools  of  the  prophets.  They  wore  a  coarse,  hairy 
cloak  as  the  garb  of  their  order,  and  existed  on  char- 
ity, a  species  of  begging-friars,  and  evidently  were  not 
regarded  with  great  respect.  To  Ahab  they  prophesied 
whatsoever  was  pleasing  to  him  to  hear,  and  as  one 
of  them  came  into  the  camp  unto  Jehu  with  a  message 
from  Elisha  to  anoint  him  king,  his  friends  asked  him 


14  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

** wherefore  came  this  mad  fellow  to  thee?"  Amos 
likewise  resents  being  placed  on  the  same  level  with 
these  begging  prophets,  "I  was  no  prophet,  neither 
was  I  a  prophet's  son  :  but  I  was  an  herdman  and  a 
gatherer  of  sycomore  fruit." 

Rudiments  of  this  originally  ecstatic  type  are  found 
even  among  the  great  prophets,  as  when  it  is  recorded 
of  Elijah  that  he  outran  the  king's  chariot  going  at  full 
speed  on  the  road  from  Karmel  to  Jezreel,  or  when 
Elisha  caused  a  harper  to  play,  in  order  to  arouse  by 
music  the  prophetic  inspiration.  Even  among  the 
prophets  whose  writings  have  come  down  to  us  we  find 
isolated  traces  of  violence  and  eccentricity. 

If  we  compare,  however,  a  Hosea  or  a  Jeremiah 
with  these  savage  dervishes,  the  examination  of  proph- 
etism  will  yield  the  same  result  which  we  observe  every- 
where, that  all  that  Israel  borrowed  from  others  it  so 
regenerated  and  stamped  with  its  own  identity,  that  it 
becomes  difficult  to  recognise  in  the  beauteous  Israe- 
litish  creation  and  transformation  any  trace  of  the  orig- 
inal. For  this  reason  one  should  not  be  loath  to  recog- 
nise the  many  foreign  elements  in  the  religion  of  Is- 
rael ;  in  doing  so  we  do  not  lower  it,  but  quite  the  con- 
trary, v/e  bear  witness  to  its  tremendous  vital  power 
and  invincible  capacity  for  assimilation.  Israel  resem- 
bles in  spiritual  things  the  fabulous  king  Midas  who 
turned  everything  he  touched  into  gold. 

But  to  appreciate  the  position  which  prophetism  as- 
sumes in  the  development  of  the  Israelitish  religion  and 


THE  MEANING  OF  PROPHECY,  15 

to  be  able  to  understand  how  in  Israel  this  thorough 
transformation  of  prophesying  could  be  effected,  we 
must  attempt  to  render  clear  to  ourselves  the  course 
of  evolution  of  the  Israelitish  religion. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  MOSES. 


I  MUST  preface  my  remarks  with  the  statement, 
which  is  to-day  not  superfluous,  that  I  regard  the 
traditions  of  Israel  concerning  its  ancient  history  on  the 
whole  as  historical.  They  are  to  be  accepted  with  re- 
serve and  criticism,  as  all  legends  are,  but  at  the  basis 
of  them  is  to  be  found  a  grain  of  historical  truth,  which 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  historian  to  disengage  from  the 
magic  veil  which  legend  has  woven  round  it.  I  be- 
lieve, accordingly,  that  the  forefathers  of  Israel  under 
the  guidance  of  Abraham  wandered  from  Haran  in 
Mesopotamia  into  Palestine;  that  after  a  long  sojourn 
there  and  after  many  adventures  they  wended  their 
way  into  Egypt  and  settled  down  in  the  pasture-lands 
of  the  Eastern  Nile-delta  ;  that  they  met  there  at  first 
with  a  friendly  reception,  or  at  least  were  tolerated,  but 
at  last  were  heavily  oppressed,  till  under  the  guidance 
of  Moses,  who  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Levi,  but  who 
through  a  special  concatenation  of  circumstances  had 
received  access  to  the  higher  civilisation  and  culture 
of  Egypt,  they  succeeded  in  freeing  themselves  from 


THE  RELIGION  OF  MOSES,  17 

the  Egyptian  yoke.  The  entire  Hebraic  tradition  with 
one  accord  regards  this  Moses,  the  leader  of  the  exo- 
dus out  of  Egypt,  as  the  founder  of  the  religion  of 
Israel.  Our  first  question,  therefore,  must  be  :  What 
sort  of  religion  was  this  that  Moses  founded?  In 
what  did  its  novelty  consist? 

And  now  I  must  make  an  admission  to  you,  which 
it  is  hard  for  me  to  make,  but  which  is  my  fullest  sci- 
entific conviction,  based  upon  the  most  cogent  grounds, 
that  in  the  sense  in  which  the  historian  speaks  of 
**knowing,"  we  know  absolutely  nothing  about  Moses. 
All  original  records  are  missing ;  we  have  not  re- 
ceived a  line,  not  even  a  word,  from  Moses  himself, 
or  from  any  of  his  contemporaries  ;  even  the  celebrated 
Ten  Commandments  are  not  from  him,  but,  as  can  be 
proved,  were  written  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventh 
century  between  700  and  650  B.  C.  The  oldest  accounts 
we  have  of  Moses  are  five  hundred  years  later  than  his 
time.  Nevertheless,  this  comparatively  modern  tra- 
dition contains  some  special  features  which  are  impor- 
tant and  require  to  be  considered  in  the  solution  of 
the  question  now  occupying  our  attention. 

They  are  as  follows.  The  work  of  Moses  does  in 
no  way  appear  as  something  absolutely  new,  but  as  a 
supplement  to  something  already  existing  among  the 
people.  It  is  the  ''God  of  our  fathers  "  that  Moses 
proclaims.  Likewise,  it  is  certain,  that  the  name  of 
this  God,  whom  we  are  wont  to  call  Jehovah,  and 
whose  real  Hebrew  pronunciation  is  Yahveh,  was  first 


i8  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

introduced  by  Moses,  and  that  a  priest  from  Sinai, 
whom  tradition  makes  the  father-in-law  of  Moses,  had 
no  mean  share  in  Moses's  work. 

As  regards  the  first  of  these  points,  all  the  internal 
evidence  is  in  its  favor.  The  relations  and  circum- 
stances of  the  time  were  not  suited  to  an  entirely  new 
creation  ;  had  the  people  at  the  time  of  Moses  been 
common  Semitic  heathens  or  Egyptian  animal-wor- 
shippers, his  achievements  would  have  been  unintel- 
ligible. Moreover,  I  believe  we  can  bring  into  organic 
connexion  with  this  theory  one  of  the  most  charming 
and  touching  narratives  in  Genesis,  the  narrative  of 
how  Abraham  originally  intended  to  sacrifice  his  only 
son,  Isaac,  to  God  as  a  burnt-offering,  when  an  angel 
appeared  and  placed  in  his  stead  a  ram.  Among  the 
Canaanites  the  sacrifice  of  children  was  an  ancient  and 
holy  institution.  The  only  purpose  the  narrative  can 
have  is  to  show  how  Abraham  and  his  companions  in 
their  wholesome  and  unpolluted  minds  regarded  this 
institution  with  horror,  and  that  they  kept  themselves 
uncontaminated  by  the  religious  customs  of  the  Cana- 
anites among  whom  they  lived,  and  whose  language 
they  adopted.  To  ascertain  and  establish  the  belief 
of  Abraham  is  an  utterly  impossible  task,  but  that 
Israel  possessed  before  the  time  of  Moses  some  definite 
type  of  religion,  on  which  Moses  could  build,  is  a  con- 
clusion from  which  we  cannot  escape. 

The  two  other  points  distinctly  traceable  in  the 
Hebrew  tradition  regarding  Moses,  namely,  that  the 


THE  RELIGION  OF  MOSES.  19 

name  of  God  ^^Yahveh"  was  first  introduced  into  Is- 
rael by  him,  and  that  a  religious  relationship  existed 
with  Sinai,  where  tradition  places  the  foundation  of 
the  Israelitic  religion  by  Moses,  are  also  confirmed  by 
closer  examination  and  found  to  be  connected. 

In  the  first  place,  we  are  struck  with  the  fact  that 
the  name  of  God  ''Yahveh"  has  no  obvious  Hebrew 
etymology.  The  interpretation  of  this  word  was  a 
matter  of  difficulty  and  uncertainty  even  for  the  Old 
Testament  itself.  In  Hebrew,  the  verb  "to  be" 
alone  could  come  into  consideration.  This  in  the  He- 
brew is  hajdh,  but  in  Aramaic  hewd,  with  a  w  in  the 
second  place.  We  must,  however,  ask  :  Why  did 
Moses,  if  he  himself  invented  the  name,  derive  it,  not 
from  the  Hebrew,  but  from  the  Aramaic,  form  of  the 
verb  ''to  be,"  whilst  we  cannot  prove,  or  even  render 
probable,  the  least  connexion  or  influence  on  the  part 
of  the  Aramaic  language?  And,  moreover,  this  deri- 
vation is  in  itself  in  the  highest  degree  suspicious  and 
doubtful.  A  name  for  God,  that  expressed  nothing 
more  of  God  than  mere  being,  essence,  pure  existence, 
is  hard  to  conceive  of  at  such  an  ancient  period  ;  all 
this  is  the  pale  cast  of  philosophical  speculation,  but 
not  the  virile  life  of  religion,  and  with  such  a  purely 
speculative  name  of  God,  Moses  would  have  given  to 
his  people  a  stone  instead  of  bread.  Feeling  this  dif- 
ficulty the  attempt  has  been  made  to  derive  the  name 
from  the  causative  form,  which  in  Semitic  is  obtained 
by  a  simple  vowel-change  in  the  radical,  as  we  form 


20  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

set  from  sit,  fell  from  fall\  in  which  case  we  should 
have  to  render  *' Yahveh,"  not  as  '*  He  that  is"  but  as 
*'He  that  calls  into  existence."  But  no  Hebrew,  and 
no  Semite,  of  those  days,  ever  described  the  creative 
power  of  God  as  a  ''calling  into  existence"  ;  a  causa- 
tive form  of  the  verb  ''to  be  "  is  nowhere  found  in  all 
the  Semitic  tongues. 

Here  again,  as  with  the  word  iiabi,  prophet,  the 
Arabic  helps  us  out  of  our  difficulties.  The  Arabic  has 
still  preserved  the  fundamental  meaning  of  this  root : 
hawd  means  "to  fall,"  and  of  this  meaning  the  root  in 
Hebrew  has  still  retained  at  least  one  distinct  trace  ; 
the  idea  of  "falling"  is  connected  with  "to  be"  by 
the  intermediary  conception,  "to  fall  out,"  "to  oc- 
cur." Now  observe  the  following  facts.  In  olden 
times  Sinai  seems  to  have  been  looked  upon  as  the 
special  habitation  of  the  God  of  Israel.  In  the  oldest 
production  of  the  Hebrew  literature  that  we  have,  the 
glorious  song  of  Deborah,  God  comes  down  from 
Sinai,  to  bring  help  unto  his  people,  who  are  engaged 
in  a  severe  struggle  at  Kishon  with  the  Canaanites ; 
and  the  prophet  Elijah  made  a  pilgrimage  unto  Horeb, 
as  Sinai  is  known  under  another  name,  to  seek  the 
Lord  in  person.  The  Arabic,  thus,  gives  us  a  con- 
crete explanation  of  the  name  "Yahveh":  it  would 
mean  "the  feller,"  the  god  of  the  storms,  who  by  his 
thunderbolts  fells  and  lays  low  his  enemies. 

That  Yahveh  was  originally  a  god  of  tempests  may 
be  shown  by  many  additional  vestiges,  and  this  was 


THE  RELIGION  OE  MOSES.  21 

distinctly  recognised  at  a  time  when  no  one  thought  of 
thus  explaining  the  name.  When  He  first  shows  Him- 
self to  Moses  and  to  the  people  on  Sinai,  He  appears 
in  the  midst  of  a  terrible  storm,  and  in  the  poetry  of 
Israel  it  is  also  customary  to  depict  the  theophanies  as 
storms.  In  the  cherubs  on  which  He  rides,  one  skilled 
in  the  interpretation  of  mythological  ideas  sees  at  once 
a  personification  of  the  storm-clouds ;  and  the  seraphs, 
which,  however,  are  mentioned  only  by  Isaiah,  are 
obviously  a  personification  of  the  serpent  of  heaven,  of 
the  lightning. 

And  now  I  should  like  to  call  your  attention  to  an- 
other very  important  fact.  This  strange  form  of  the 
name  of  God,  Yahveh,  which  is  a  verbal  form,  an  im- 
perfect, finds,  in  the  whole  populous  Pantheon  of  the 
heathen  Semites,  analogies  only  on  Arabian  soil : 
among  the  hundreds  of  Semitic  names  of  God  known 
to  us,  we  can  point  to  but  four  such  formations,  and 
all  of  them  occur  on  Arabian  soil.  The  Sinai  penin- 
sula belongs  linguistically  and  ethnographically  to 
Arabia,  and  when  we  keep  all  these  facts  before  us, 
the  conviction  is  forced  upon  us  that  Yahveh  was  orig- 
inally the  name  of  one  of  the  gods  worshipped  on 
Mount  Sinai,  which  from  the  earliest  times  was  con- 
sidered holy,  and  that  Moses  adopted  this  name,  and 
bestowed  it  on  the  God  of  Israel,  the  God  of  their  fa- 
thers. 

But  now  you  will  ask,  with  some  astonishment,  is 
this,  then,  really  all  that  we  can  infer  about  Moses, 


22  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL, 

even  granting  we  know  nothing  about  him?  No,  it  is 
not.  But,  to  learn  more,  we  must  employ  a  somewhat 
moire  circuitous  method.  Even  that  most  exact  of  all 
sciences,  mathematics,  regards  a  so-called  indirect  proof 
as  equally  convincing  with  a  direct  one,  if  it  be  rightly 
worked  out,  and  such  an  indirect  proof  we  possess  for 
determining  the  work  of  Moses.  We  may  employ,  in 
fact,  the  method  of  inference  from  effect  to  cause. 
Since,  according  to  the  universally  accepted  tradition 
of  the  whole  people  of  Israel,  Moses  is  the  founder  of 
the  specifically  Israelitic  religion,  we  have  only  to  es- 
tablish what  this  was,  and  in  doing  so  we  establish  at 
the  same  time  the  work  of  Moses. 

To  this  end,  we  must  first  seek  to  discover  the  con- 
stituent elements  of  the  religious  consciousness  of  Is- 
rael as  it  existed  in  the  minds  of  the  people  before  the 
prophets  gave  to  it  wholly  new  impulses.  We  have, 
moreover,  to  compare  this  religious  belief  of  the  people 
of  Israel  about  the  year  800  B.  C.  with  the  religious  ideas 
which  we  find  elsewhere  in  the  Semitic  races,  and  with 
the  conceptions  of  those  purely  or  not  purely  Semitic 
races,  with  whom  Israel  came  into  direct  contact,  as 
the  Egyptians  and  the  Babylonians.  What  we  find 
by  such  a  comparison  to  agree  completely  with  the 
conceptions  of  the  other  Semitic  tribes,  can  in  Israel 
also  be  a  spontaneous  production  of  the  Semitic  mind, 
just  as  in  the  other  Semitic  tribes  ;  while  that  finally 
which  corresponds  with  the  conceptions  of  the  Baby- 
lonians or  Egyptians,  can  have  been  borrowed  directly 


THE  RELIGION  OF  MOSES.  23 

from  them,  because  the  conditions  of  such  an  origin  ex- 
ist in  the  long  sojourn  of  the  IsraeHtes  among  those 
nations.  Should,  however,  in  the  religion  of  Israel, 
about  800  B.  C,  things  be  found,  which  none  of  the 
nations  mentioned  have  in  common  with  Israel,  or  such 
as  are  diametrically  opposed  to  the  conceptions  and 
notions  of  those  nations,  then  we  have  in  such  things, 
according  to  all  the  rules  of  historical  and  religio-sci- 
entific  reasoning,  a  creation  of  Moses. 

Now,  as  a  fact,  the  religion  of  Israel  exhibits  a 
large  number  of  such  features.  Israel  is  the  only  na- 
tion we  know  of  that  never  had  a  mythology,  the  only 
people  who  never  differentiated  the  Deity  sexually. 
So  deep  does  this  last  trait  extend,  that  the  Hebrew 
language  is  not  even  competent  to  form  the  word 
** goddess."  Where  the  Book  of  Kings  tells  us  of  the 
supposed  worship  of  idols  by  Solomon,  we  find  writ- 
ten :  ^'Astarte,  the  god  of  the  Phoenicians."  Not  even 
the  word  '* goddess"  is  conceivable  to  the  Israelites, 
much  less  the  thing  itself.  Similarly,  the  cult  of  Israel 
is  distinguished  by  great  simplicity  and  purity,  as  may 
be  proved  by  such  old  and  thoroughly  Israelitic  feasts 
as  the  Passover,  the  offering  of  the  firstlings  of  the  flock 
during  the  vernal  equinox,  and  the  New  Moons.  Israel 
denounces  with  abhorrence  the  sacrificing  of  children, 
and  especially  that  religious  immorality,  which  held 
full  sway  among  the  immediate  neighbors  of  Israel, 
that  most  detestable  of  all  religious  aberrations,  which 
considered  prostitution  as  an  act  of  worship.     In  fact, 


24  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL, 

Israel,  even  in  its  earliest  days,  possessed  in  compari- 
son with  the  neighboring  tribes,  a  very  high  and  pure 
morality.  For  sins  of  unchastity  the  ancient  Hebrew 
has  an  extremely  characteristic  expression  :  it  calls 
them  nebaldhy  ''madness,"  something  inconceivable, 
unintelligible,  which  a  reasonable  and  normally  organ- 
ised man  could  never  commit. 

But  the  most  important  feature  of  all  is  the  manner 
in  which  Israel  conceives  its  relations  to  God.  Mono- 
theism, in  a  strictly  scientific  sense,  ancient  Israel  had 
not ;  Yahveh  was  not  the  only  existing  God  in  heaven 
and  on  earth  ;  He  was  only  the  exclusive  God  of  Is- 
rael. Israel  had  henotheism,  as  Max  Müller  has  termed 
this  idea  to  distinguish  it  from  monotheism,  and  mo- 
nolatry  only.  The  Israelite  could  only  serve  Yahveh ; 
to  serve  another  god  was  for  the  Israelite  a  crime  de- 
serving of  death.  Thus  was  the  relation  of  the  Israel- 
ites to  this  their  only  God  especially  close  and  inti- 
mate ;  the  religious  instinct  concentrated  itself  on  one 
object,  and  thereby  received  an  intensity,  which  is 
foreign  to  polytheism,  and  must  ever  remain  foreign  to 
it.  And  this  one  and  only  God  of  Israel  was  not  a 
metaphysical  entity,  floating  about  in  the  grey  misty 
regions  beyond  the  clouds,  but  He  was  a  personality. 
He  was  everywhere,  and  present  in  all  things.  The 
ways  both  of  nature  and  of  daily  life  were  God's  work. 

And  this  brings  us  to  an  extremely  important  point. 
No  distinction  was  known  between  divine  and  human 
law ;    both  were  God's  institutions  and   commands, 


THE  RELIGION  OF  MOSES,  25 

civil  as  well  as  church  law,  to  express  ourselves  in  more 
modern  terms.  That  any  valid  law  might  be  merely  of 
human  formulation  and  of  human  discovery,  is  for  the 
ancient  Israelite  utterly  inconceivable ;  therefore,  every 
one  that  sins  against  the  civil  law  sins  against  God — 
ancient  Israel  knew  only  sins,  and  no  crimes. 

Moses  also  understood  how  to  make  God  accessible 
in  practical  life.  The  old  priestly  oracle  of  the  Israel- 
ites, which  played  so  important  a  part  in  the  ancient 
days,  must  also  be  regarded  as  a  Mosaic  institution. 
And  practically  this  is  of  the  utmost  importance ;  for 
by  it  the  approach  to  God  at  every  moment  was  made 
easy,  and  all  of  life  was  passed  in  the  service  and  under 
the  supervision  of  Yahveh.  This  is  indeed  much  and 
great.  Yahveh,  alone  the  God  of  Israel,  who  suf- 
fers no  one  and  nothing  beside  Him,  who  will  belong 
entirely  and  exclusively  to  this  people,  but  will  also 
have  this  people  belong  entirely  and  exclusively  to 
Him,  so  that  it  shall  be  a  pure  and  pious  people,  whose 
whole  life,  even  in  the  apparently  most  public  and 
worldly  matters,  is  a  service  of  God,  and  this  God 
source  and  shield  of  all  justice  and  all  morality — these 
must  have  all  been  the  genuine  and  specific  thoughts 
of  Moses.  Moreover,  the  importance  of  these  thoughts 
reaches  far  beyond  the  province  of  religion  in  the  nar- 
rower sense  of  the  word.  By  giving  to  Israel  a  national 
Deity,  Moses  made  of  it  a  nation,  and  cemented  together 
by  this  ideal  band  the  different  heterogeneous  elements 
of  the  nation  into  a  unity.    Moses  formed  Israel  into  a 


26  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

people.     With  Moses  and  his  work  begins  the  history 
of  the  people  of  Israel. 

This  work  was  soon  to  be  put  to  the  test.  About  a  ■ 
generation  after  the  death  of  Moses,  Israel  forced  its 
way  into  Palestine  and  found  itself  before  a  terrible 
danger.  The  Canaanites  were  far  superior  in  civilisa- 
tion to  the  primitive  sons  of  the  desert.  Israel  adopted 
this  civilisation,  and  passed  in  Canaan  from  the  no- 
madic mode  of  life  to  the  agricultural,  finally  taking 
up  a  permanent  residence  there.  It  even  took  from 
Canaan  the  outward  forms  of  religion,  and  in  a  meas- 
ure adopted  its  holy  places.  The  Sabbath,  which  the 
ancient  Babylonians  had,  and  which  was  designated  as 
a  ''day  of  recreation  for  the  heart,"  and  the  three  great 
yearly  festivals  of  the  Passover,  of  the  Weeks,  and  of 
the  Tabernacles,  are  borrowed  from  the  Canaanites ; 
while  the  holy  places  of  worship,  Bethel,  Dan,  Gilgal, 
Beersheba,  Sichem  and  Gibeon,  Shiloh  and  Ramah,and 
others  are  all  adopted  outright  from  the  Canaanites. 
But  if  Israel  preserved  its  identity  during  this  mighty 
process  of  transformation,  was  not  spiritually  overcome 
and  conquered  by  the  Canaanites,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
knew  how  to  absorb  the  Canaanites  themselves,  so 
that  in  the  end  Israel  remained  the  decisive  and 
dominant  factor,  it  owes  this  solely  to  Moses  and  his 
work,  which  gave  to  the  Israelite  nation  its  religious 
consecration  and  religious  foundation,  and  made  it 
competent,  not  only  to  preserve  itself,  but  also  to 
expand  and  to  make  extensive  conquests. 


THE  EARLY  PROPHETS. 


AFTER  this  long  digression  on  the  religious  and 
-  profane  history  of  Israel,  let  us  return  to  our 
starting-point.  We  see  everywhere  that  the  first  im- 
pulses in  all  the  crises  of  the  history  of  Israel  spring 
from  its  religion.  This,  the  oldest  production  of  He- 
brew literature  that  we  have,  the  glorious  song  of  De- 
borah, shows  us.  The  narrative  subsequently  attached 
to  this  production  calls  Deborah  a  prophetess.  She  was 
a  divinely  inspired  woman,  who  in  a  sad  and  critical 
period  knew  how  to  infuse  into  her  dejected  country- 
men a  fresh  confidence  in  God  and  in  themselves. 
There  scarcely  exists  a  more  eloquent  testimony  of 
this  stalwart  and  ingenuous  belief  in  God,  and  of  this 
primitive  triumphant  piety  than  that  which  the  song 
of  Deborah  offers.  The  struggle  for  their  heavily  op- 
pressed nationality  is  a  struggle  for  God,  and  He  fights 
from  heaven  for  His  people  ;  the  stars  in  their  courses 
fought  against  Sisera  and  the  kings  of  Canaan. 

Similarly,  at  the  head  of  the  kingdom,  stands  Sam- 
uel, a  seer  enlightened  of  God,  who  bears  in  his  prayer- 


20  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

ful  heart  the  misery  of  his  people,  and  who  clearly  per- 
ceives the  way  out  of  their  distress  and  oppression, 
who  recognises  in  Saul  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  the 
man  of  the  time,  who  lights  in  his  heroic  soul  the  kin- 
dling spark,  and  gives  to  him  the  religious  consecra- 
tion that  supports  him  on  his  way.  This  is  all  that 
the  oldest  record  tells  us  of  Samuel ;  a  later  period 
magnified  and  raised  his  image  at  the  expense  of 
Saul,  upon  whom  falls  thus  the  unmerited  lot  of  be- 
ing numbered  among  the  biblical  miscreants.  In  the 
oldest  chronicles  Saul  appears  as  a  noble  hero  and  a 
pious  king,  over  whom  hangs  a  gloomy  fate,  and  who 
finally  perishes  in  a  tragic  manner. 

The  frequent  assertion  of  a  reforming  and  organ- 
ising efficacy  of  Samuel  in  the  province  of  prophesy- 
ing, and  that  Samuel  founded  and  was  the  head  of  the 
schools  of  prophets,  is  a  legend  of  a  later  period  which 
cannot  stand  before  a  methodical  historical  criticism. 

We  meet  with  prophets  also  during  the  reign  of 
David.  Nathan  especially  is  known,  who  holds  up  to 
the  king,  with  an  invincible  love  of  truth,  his  grievous 
sin ;  and  a  prophet  Gad  is  also  mentioned  in  the  time 
of  David.  When  Solomon  by  his  despotic  govern- 
ment and  passion  for  splendor  estranged  himself  from 
the  hearts  of  Israel,  we  are  told  of  a  prophet  Ahijah  of 
Shiloh  who  encouraged  Jeroboam  to  rebel  against  Solo- 
mon :  ''Behold,  I  will  rend  the  kingdom  out  of  the 
hand  of  Solomon  and  will  give  ten  tribes  to  thee." 
Still   all  these  men  are  only  figures  appearing  in  the 


THE  EARL  V  PR  OPHE  TS,  29 

episodes,  of  whom  we  know  too  little,  to  obtain  any 
clear  idea  of  their  importance  and  efficacy. 

The  first  prophet  of  Israel  on  a  grand  scale  was 
Elijah,  one  of  the  most  titanic  personages  in  all  thifc 
Old  Testament.  One  has  at  once  the  impression  that 
with  him  a  new  epoch  begins,  a  crisis  in  the  religious 
history  of  Israel.  The  account  given  of  Elijah,  it  is 
true,  is  adorned  with  much  that  is  legendary;  but  the 
fact  that  tradition  has  sketched  his  image  with  so  much 
that  is  stupendous  and  superhuman,  and  that  such  a 
garland  of  legends  could  be  woven  around  him,  is  the 
clearest  proof  of  his  greatness  which  makes  him  tower 
above  all  his  predecessors  and  contemporaries.  Where 
smoke  is,  there  fire  must  be,  and  where  much  smoke 
is,  there  the  fire  must  be  great.  Let  us  try  to  sketch 
out  a  picture  of  Elijah,  of  his  true  importance  and  his- 
torical achievements. 

It  was  a  trying  time.  In  the  year  876  an  Assyrian 
army  had  penetrated  for  the  first  time  as  far  as  Leba- 
non and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  had  laid  Israel 
under  contribution.  In  addition,  Israel  had  just  had 
an  unlucky  struggle  with  the  neighboring  kingdom  of 
Damascus,  its  hereditary  foe.  In  this  conjuncture, 
King  Ahab  assumed  the  reins  of  power. 

Ahab,  owing  to  his  conflict  with  Elijah,  is  ranked 
among  the  biblical  miscreants — but  as  unjustly  so  as 
Saul.  Ahab  was  one  of  the  best  kings  and  mightiest 
rulers  that  Israel  ever  had,  esteemed  and  admired  by 
both  friend  and  foe  as  a  man  of  worth  and  character. 


30  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL, 

He  was  thoroughly  equal  to  the  situation,  and  after 
severe  struggles  raised  Israel  to  a  position  which  it 
had  held  under  none  of  his  predecessors.  The  only 
thing  which  he  can  be  blamed  for  is  his  weakness 
towards  his  wife,  the  bigoted  and  intriguing  Tyrian 
princess,  Jezebel. 

Jezebel's  father,  Ethbaal,  had  formerly  been  a 
priest  of  Baal,  and  had  raised  himself  to  the  throne  of 
Tyre  by  the  murder  of  his  predecessor.  Ahab,  now, 
in  honor  of  his  wife,  caused  a  temple  to  be  erected  in 
Samaria  to  the  Tyrian  Baal.  That  Ahab  extirpated, 
or  wished  to  extirpate,  from  Israel  the  worship  of 
Yahveh,  is  pure  legend.  The  three  children  of  Ahab 
and  of  Jezebel  whose  names  we  know,  both  his  succes- 
sors, Ahajiah  and  Jehoram,  and  the  later  queen  of 
Judah,  Athaljah,  bear  names  compounded  of  Yahveh, 
and  shortly  before  his  death  there  lived  in  Samaria 
four  hundred  Yahveh  prophets,  who  prophesied  to  the 
king  whatever  he  wished.  Ahab's  doings  in  this  mat- 
ter are  quite  analogous  to  the  building  of  the  Greek 
Catholic  chapel  in  the  famous  watering-place  of  Wies- 
baden, because  the  first  wife  of  the  late  Duke  of  Nas- 
sau was  a  Russian  princess. 

The  supposed  idolatry  of  Solomon  is  to  be  explained 
in  the  same  manner.  Solomon  was  the  first  who  ex- 
tended the  intellectual  horizon  of  Israel  beyond  the 
borders  of  Palestine,  and  opened  the  land  to  intellectual 
and  commercial  traffic  with  the  outside  world.  In  his 
capital,  which  he  desired  should  become  a  metropq- 


THE  EARLY  PROPHETS,  31 

lis,  every  one  was  to  be  saved  after  his  own  fashion, 
and  for  this  reason  Solomon  built  temples  to  the  gods 
of  all  the  nations  who  had  dealings  with  Jerusalem. 

No  man,  apparently,  had  taken  offence  at  the  action 
of  Ahab,  or  had  seen  in  it  a  transgression  against  the 
national  Deity,  until  Elijah  cried  out  to  the  people  the 
following  words,  which  are  surely  authentic:  ''How 
long  will  ye  halt  between  two  opinions  ?  If  Yahveh  be 
God,  serve  him,  but  if  Baal  be  God,  serve  him.'*  Eli- 
jah was  no  opposer  of  Baal  on  grounds  of  principle  ; 
he  travels  in  Phoenicia,  the  special  home  of  Baal,  and 
exhibits  the  power  of  his  miracles  in  the  service  of  a 
worshipper  of  Baal,  the  widow  of  Zarephath ;  but  in 
Israel  there  was  no  room  for  Baal ;  there  Yahveh  alone 
was  King  and  God.  It  is  the  energy  and  sensitiveness 
of  his  consciousness  of  God  that  rebels  against  the 
least  suspicion  of  syncretism,  and  sees  in  it  a  scoffing 
and  mockery  of  Yahveh,  who  will  have  His  people  ex- 
clusively for  Himself.  He  who  serves  partly  Baal  and 
partly  Yahveh  is  like,  according  to  Elijah's  drastic 
imagery,  a  man  lame  in  both  legs. 

But  another  and  more  important  point  fell  in  the 
balance  here.  Hard  by  the  palace  of  Ahab  in  Jezreel, 
Naboth  the  Jezreelite  had  a  vineyard  which  the  king 
wished  to  make  into  a  garden  of  herbs.  He  offered 
Naboth,  therefore,  the  worth  of  it  in  money,  or,  if  he 
preferred,  a  better  vineyard.  But  Naboth,  with  the 
proud  joy  of  the  true  yeoman  in  his  hereditary  land, 
answers  the  king:    ''The  Lord  forbid  it  me  that  I 


32  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

should  give  the  inheritance  of  my  fathers  unto  thee." 
With  these  words  the  matter  is  at  an  end,  so  far  as 
Ahab  is  concerned,  but  he  cannot  conceal  his  disap- 
pointment. Jezebel,  his  wife,  hears  of  the  matter,  and 
says  unto  him  the  mocking  and  inciting  words  :  "Dost 
thou  now  govern  the  Kingdom  of  Israel?  I  will  give 
thee  the  vineyard  of  Naboth."  Ahab  let  her  have  her 
will,  and  Jezebel's  rule  in  Israel  according  to  her  views 
cost  Ahab  and  his  house  their  throne.  False  witnesses 
testified  against  Naboth,  he  was  stoned  to  death  as  a 
blasphemer  against  God  and  the  king,  and  his  goods 
were  confiscated. 

In  the  ancient  East,  as  to-day,  such  events  were  of 
every-day  occurrence,  accepted  by  everybody  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course.  The  contemporaries  of  Ahab,  however, 
saw  in  this  deed  something  unheard  of ;  they  had  the 
feeling  as  if  heaven  and  earth  would  fall,  since  a  king 
of  Israel  was  capable  of  committing  such  a  crime. 
Elijah  made  himself  the  mouthpiece  of  the  general  in- 
dignation. 

On  the  following  day,  when  the  king  arose  to  take 
possession  of  the  vineyard,  he  meets  there  the  mighty 
man,  clothed  in  his  hairy  garment,  who  calls  to  him  in 
a  voice  of  thunder :  ''Thou  who  didst  sell  thyself  to 
work  wickedness!  thus  saith  Yahveh  :  I  have  yester- 
day seen  the  blood  of  Naboth  and  of  his  children,  and 
I  will  requite  thee  in  this  plat."  Elijah  does  not  an- 
nounce the  destruction  of  the  ruling  house  on  account 
of  its  idolatry,  but  as  an  act  of  justice.     It  was  not 


THE  EARLY  PROPHETS.  33 

the  Tyrian  Baal  which  overthrew  the  dynasty  Omri, 
but  the  crime  committed  on  a  simple  peasant. 

According  to  the  universal  voice  of  tradition,  Eli- 
jah achieved  and  attained  nothing.  But  that  is  his 
highest  praise  and  his  greatest  fame.  For  Elijah  was 
a  man  of  pure  heart  and  of  clean  hands,  who  fought 
only  with  spiritual  weapons.  There  exists  no  greater 
contrast  than  that  between  Elijah  and  the  man  looked 
upon  as  his  heir  and  successor,  Elisha.  Tradition  it- 
self has  felt  this  difference ;  the  miracles  narrated  of 
Elisha,  in  so  far  as  they  are  not  pure  imitations  of 
Elijah's,  all  possess  a  grotesque,  one  might  almost 
say,  a  vulgar,  character :  the  sanctification  and  gran- 
deur of  Elijah  are  wanting  throughout.  Elisha  had 
seen  from  his  predecessor's  example  that  nothing 
could  be  achieved  with  spiritual  weapons ;  he  became 
a  demagogue  and  conspirator,  a  revolutionist  and  agi- 
tator. He  incites  one  of  the  most  contemptible  char- 
acters known  in  the  history  of  Israel,  the  cavalry  officer 
Jehu,  to  smite  the  house  of  Ahab,  and  to  set  himself 
upon  the  throne  of  Israel.  This  came  to  pass.  Elisha 
had  attained  his  object,  and  the  Tyrian  Baal  had  disap- 
peared out  of  Samaria,  but  Israel  itself  was  brought  to 
the  verge  of  destruction.  The  reign  of  Jehu  and  of 
his  son,  Jehoahaz,  is  the  saddest  period  that  Israel 
ever  passed  through,  and  eighty  years  afterwards  the 
prophet  Hosea  saw  in  the  bloody  deeds  of  Jehu  an 
unatoned  for  guilt,  that  weighed  down  upon  the  king- 


34  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL, 

dorn  and  dynasty,  and  which  could  only  be  expiated 
by  the  fall  of  both. 

In  what,  now,  does  the  importance  of  Elijah  con- 
sist? 

Elijah  is  the  first  prophet  in  a  truly  Israelitic  sense, 
differing  from  the  later  prophets  only  in  that  his  effic- 
acy, like  that  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  was  entirely  per- 
sonal and  in  that  he  left  nothing  written.  He  saw  that 
man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone,  nor  nations  through 
sheer  power.  He  considered  Israel  solely  as  the  bearer 
of  a  higher  idea.  If  the  people  became  unfaithful  to 
this  idea,  no  external  power  could  help  them ;  for  the 
nation  bore  in  itself  the  germ  of  death.  Israel  was  not 
to  become  a  common  nation  like  the  others ;  it  should 
serve  Yahveh  alone,  so  as  to  become  a  righteous  and 
pure  people. 

Elijah  was  in  holy  earnest  about  this  Mosaic  thought; 
he  measured  his  age  and  its  events  by  this  standard  ; 
he  placed  things  temporal  under  an  eternal  point  of 
view,  and  judged  them  accordingly.  The  crying  evils 
existed  plainly  in  the  m^odes  of  worship  and  in  the 
administration  of  the  law.  Undefiled  worship  and  a 
righteous  administration  of  the  law  are  what  God  re- 
quires above  all  things.  Here,  if  anywhere,  it  was  to 
be  shown  whether  Israel  was  in  reality  the  people  of 
God. 

It  is  no  accident  that  the  first  appearance  of  genu- 
ine prophecy  in  Israel  coincided  with  the  first  advent 
of  the  Assyrians.     Historical  catastrophes  have  inva- 


THE  EARLY  PROPHETS.  35 

riably  aroused  prophesying  in  Israel,  and  for  this  rea- 
son the  prophets  have  been  well  called  the  storm- 
petrels  of  the  world's  history.  This  Amos  has  expressed 
in  a  highly  characteristic  manner,  where  he  says: 
''Shall  a  trumpet  be  blown  in  the  city  and  the  people 
not  be  afraid?  Shall  there  be  evil  in  a  city  and  the 
Lord  hath  not  done  it?  Surely  the  Lord  Yahveh  will 
do  nothing  but  he  revealeth  his  secret  unto  his  ser- 
vants, the  prophets.  The  Lion  hath  roared,  who  will 
not  fear?  The  Lord  God  hath  spoken,  who  can  but 
prophesy? " 

The  prophet  possesses  the  capacity  of  recognising 
God  in  history.  He  feels  it  when  catastrophes  are  in 
the  air.  He  stands  on  his  watch-tower  and  spies  out 
the  signs  of  the  times,  so  as  to  interpret  them  to  his 
people,  and  to  point  out  to  them  the  right  way,  which 
will  surely  guide  them  out  of  all  danger. 

Moreover,  the  prophet  is  also  the  incorporate  con- 
science of  the  nation,  feeling  all  things  and  bringing 
all  things  to  light  that  are  rotten  in  the  nation  and  dis- 
pleasing to  God.  Micah  has  expressed  this,  in  very 
apt  terms,  where  he  states  his  antithesis  to  the  false 
prophets,  as  follows:  *'If  a  man  walking  in  the  spirit 
and  falsehood  do  lie  saying  :  I  will  prophesy  unto  thee 
of  wine  and  strong  drink  ;  he  shall  even  be  the  prophet 
of  the  people  .  .  .  [The)^  are]  the  prophets  that  make 
my  people  err,  that  bite  with  their  teeth  and  cry  peace ; 
and  he  that  putteth  not  into  their  mouths  they  even 
prepare  war  against  him  .  .  .  but  truly  I  am  full  of 


36  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

power  by  the  spirit  of  the  Lord,  and  of  judgment,  and 
of  might,  to  declare  unto  Jacob  his  transgression,  and 
to  Israel  his  sin." 

That  is  the  prophet  of  Israel,  as  he  is  in  his  true 
character  and  innermost  significance  :  a  man  who  has 
the  power  to  look  at  temporal  things  under  eternal 
points  of  view,  who  sees  God's  rule  in  all  things,  who 
knows,  as  the  incorporate  voice  of  God,  how  to  inter- 
pret to  his  contemporaries  the  plan  of  God,  and  to 
direct  them  according  to  His  will.  This  way  alone 
leads  to  salvation.  To  reject  it  is  certain  destruction, 
be  the  outward  appearance  of  the  nation  ever  so  im- 
posing. 

Of  these  genuine  prophets  of  Israel,  Elijah  was  the 
first,  and  therefore  a  personality  that  stood  forth  in  his 
age  in  solitary  grandeur,  not  understood,  but  an  object 
of  admiration  to  the  latest  generations,  and  the  pioneer 
of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  religion  of  Israel. 

All  these  men  keep  adding  to  the  work  of  Moses; 
they  build  on  the  foundations  which  he  laid.  Without 
Moses  the  prophets  would  never  have  existed,  and 
therefore  they  themselves  have  the  feeling  of  bringing 
nothing  absolutely  new.  But  as  faithful  and  just 
stewards  they  have  put  to  interest  the  pound  they  in- 
herited from  Moses.  The  national  religion  founded  by 
Moses  became  through  the  prophets  the  religion  of  the 
world.  How  this  took  place,  in  a  marvellously  or- 
ganic development,  the  consideration  of  those  proph- 
ets whose  writings  have  been  preserved,  will  show  us. 


AMOS. 


^JOTHING  is  more  characteristic  than  the  appear- 
^  ance  of  written  prophecy  in  Israel. 
It  was  at  Bethel,  at  the  Autumn  festival.  In  that 
place  where  once  Jacob  saw  in  a  dream  the  angels  of 
God  ascending  and  descending,  where  God  had  ap- 
peared to  him  and  had  blessed  him,  there  was  the 
sanctuary  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  the  religious  cen- 
tre of  the  ten  tribes.  Here  stood  the  revered  image 
of  the  bull,  under  which  symbol  the  God  of  Israel  was 
worshipped.  Here  all  Israel  had  gathered  for  thanks- 
giving and  adoration,  for  festivity  and  sacrifice. 

In  distinct  opposition  to  the  harsh  austerity  and 
sombre  rigor  of  the  later  Judaism,  the  worship  of  God 
in  ancient  Israel  was  of  a  thoroughly  joyful  and  cheer- 
ful character.  It  was  a  conception  utterly  strange  to 
the  ancient  Israelite  that  worship  was  instituted  to  re- 
store the  impaired  relation  of  man  to  God,  or  that  it 
was  the  office  of  sacrifice  to  bring  about  an  atonement 
for  sins.  The  ancient  Israelite  considered  the  service 
of  God  a  rejoicing  in  God.     In  the  sacrifice,  of  which 


38  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

God  received  His  appointed  portion,  whilst  the  sacri- 
ficer  himself  consumed  the  rest,  he  sat  at  the  table 
with  God,  he  was  the  guest  of  his  God,  and  therefore 
doubly  conscious  of  his  union  with  Him.  And  as  an- 
cient Israel  was  a  thoroughly  cheerful  and  joyous  peo- 
ple, its  rejoicing  in  God  bore,  according  to  our  ideas, 
many  very  worldly  and  unrighteous  traits.  Revelry 
and  tumultuous  carousing  marked  the  festivals.  As 
on  the  occasion  of  such  an  autumn  festival  at  Shiloh, 
the  mother  of  Samuel  poured  out  her  heart  to  God  in 
silent  prayer,  Eli  said  unto  her :  ''How  long  wilt  thou 
be  drunken?  put  away  thy  wine  from  thee."  So  that 
evidently  drunken  women  were  not  seldom  seen  on 
such  occasions.  The  prophet  Isaiah  gives  us  a  still 
more  drastic  sketch  of  a  celebration  in  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  when  he  describes  how  all  the  tables  were 
full  of  vomit  and  filthiness,  so  that  there  was  no  place 
clean.  And  even  worse  things,  licentious  debaucheries 
of  the  lowest  sort,  took  place  during  these  festivals. 

The  prophets  recognised  in  these  excrescences,  and 
certainly  most  justly,  remnants  of  Canaanite  pagan- 
ism. Israel  had  not  only  taken  its  sanctuaries  from 
the  Canaanites,  but  also  its  modes  of  worship.  The 
contemporaries  of  Amos,  however,  considered  this  the 
correct  and  fitting  worship  of  God,  such  as  the  God  of 
Israel  demanded  from  His  people,  and  such  as  was 
pleasing  unto  Him. 

In  the  year  760  such  another  feast  was  celebrated 
in  Bethel.     Revelry  was  the  order  of  the  day.     And 


AMOS.  39 

why  should  man  not  rejoice  and  give  thanks  to  God? 
After  a  long  period  of  direst  tribulation  and  distress 
Israel  had  again  raised  itself  to  power.  Its  worst 
enemy,  the  kingdom  of  Damascus,  had  been  decisively 
defeated,  and  was  no  longer  dangerous.  The  neigh- 
boring nations  had  been  subjected,  and  Jeroboam  II. 
reigned  over  a  kingdom  which  nearly  attained  the  size 
and  grandeur  of  the  kingdom  of  David.  The  good  old 
times  of  this  greatest  ruler  of  Israel  seemed  to  have 
come  again.  Israel  was  the  ruling  nation  between  the 
Nile  and  Euphrates.  And  were  not  affairs  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  kingdom  as  brilliant  and  stupendous  as 
they  had  ever  been?  There  were  palaces  of  ivory  in 
Samaria  then,  and  houses  of  hewn  stone  without  num- 
ber, castles  and  forts,  horses  and  chariots,  power  and 
pomp,  splendor  and  riches,  wherever  one  might  turn. 
The  rich  lay  on  couches  of  Ivory  with  damask  cushions; 
daily  they  slew  a  fatted  calf,  drank  the  most  costly 
wines,  and  anointed  themselves  with  precious  oils. 
All  in  all,  it  was  a  period  in  which  to  live  was  a  joy. 
Accordingly,  the  feast  was  celebrated  with  unwonted 
splendor,  and  untold  sacrifices  were  offered.  Men 
lived  in  the  consciousness  that  God  was  on  their  side, 
and  they  were  grateful  to  Him. 

But  just  as  the  festival  mirth  was  at  its  highest,  it 
was  suddenly  interrupted.  An  unknown,  plain-looking 
man  of  the  people  forced  his  way  through  the  crowd  of 
merry-makers.  A  divine  fire  gleamed  in  his  eyes,  a  holy 
gravity  suffused  his  countenance.     With  shy,  Involun- 


40  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

tary  respect  room  is  made  for  him,  and  before  the 
people  well  know  what  has  happened,  he  has  drowned 
and  brought  to  silence  the  festive  songs  by  the  piercing 
mournful  cry  of  his  lamentation.  Israel  had  a  special 
form  of  poetry  for  its  funeral  dirge,  a  particular  melo- 
dious cadence,  which  reminded  every  hearer  of  the 
most  earnest  moments  of  his  life,  as  he  had  stood, 
weeping,  for  the  last  time  at  the  bier  of  his  father,  his 
mother,  wife,  or  some  beloved  child,  and  this  form  was 
adopted  repeatedly  by  the  prophets  with  great  effect. 
Such  a  dirge  does  the  strange  man  now  intone  in  the 
sanctuary  at  Bethel.  It  is  a  dirge  over  Israel;  he 
shouts  it  among  the  merry-makers  that  are  crowded 
before  him  : 

"  The  virgin  of  Israel  is  fallen, 
She  shall  no  more  rise, 
She  is  forsaken  upon  her  land. 
There  is  none  to  raise  her  up." 

The  assembly  is  seized  with  astonishment  and  con- 
sternation. Men  inquire  who  the  strange  speaker  is, 
and  are  told  that  he  is  called  Amos,  a  herdsman  of 
Tekoa,  who  has  uttered  such  blasphemies  several  times 
before.  For  to  predict  the  destruction  of  God's  own 
people  was  the  acme  of  blasphemy ;  it  was  the  same 
as  saying  that  either  God  was  not  willing  or  that  He 
had  not  the  power  to  protect  and  save  His  people  ;  it 
was  equivalent  to  prophesying  God's  own  destruction  ; 
for  God  Himself  perished  with  the  people  who  served 
and  honored  Him.  Yet  this  wondrous  prophet  adds 
to  his  blasphemy,  insanity.    It  is  God  Himself  who  de- 


AMOS.  41 

stroys  His  people  Israel,  Who  must  destroy  it.  He 
has  sworn  it  by  His  holiness,  by  Himself,  that  the  end 
is  come  over  His  people  Israel. 

No  long  time  elapsed  before  Amaziah  the  priest 
came  up  and  addressed  the  bold  speaker  in  these  words: 
''O  thou  seer,  go,  flee  thee  away  into  the  land  of  Judah 
and  there  eat  bread  and  prophesy  there  :  But  prophesy 
not  again  at  Bethel ;  for  it  is  the  King's  chapel,  and 
the  King's  court." 

Then  Amos  answered  :  ''I  was  no  prophet,  neither 
was  I  a  prophet's  son  ;  but  I  was  an  herdman  and  a 
gatherer  of  sycomore  fruit  :  And  the  Lord  took  me  as 
I  followed  the  flock,  and  the  Lord  said  unto  me.  Go, 
prophesy  unto  my  people  Israel."  And  he  now  con- 
cludes his  general  warning  of  evil  with  a  personal 
threat  to  the  high-priest :  **  Thy  wife  shall  be  an  harlot 
in  the  city,  and  thy  sons  and  thy  daughters  shall  fall 
by  the  sword,  and  thy  land  shall  be  divided  by  line, 
and  thou  shalt  die  in  a  polluted  land." 

After  Amos  had  fulfilled  the  divine  charge,  he  re- 
turned home  to  his  sheep  and  to  his  sycamores.  But 
feeling  that  what  he  had  prophesied  was  not  for  the 
present,  nor  for  those  immediately  concerned,  but 
spoken  for  all  time,  he  wrote  down  his  prophecies  and 
left  them  as  an  imperishable  monument. 

Now,  how  did  Amos  arrive  at  this  conviction,  which 
reversed  everything  that  at  that  time  seemed  to  be  the 
destiny  of  Israel.  When  he  pictures  to  himself  the 
overthrow  of  Israel,  the  conquest  and  destruction  of 


42  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

its  army,  the  plundering  and  desolation  of  its  land, 
and  the  captivity  and  transportation  of  its  people  by  a 
foreign  foe,  he  is  thinking,  of  course,  of  the  Assyrians, 
although  he  never  mentions  the  name.  This  lowering 
thundercloud  had  repeatedly  flashed  its  lightnings  over 
Israel's  horizon,  first  in  the  year  876,  and  in  the  suc- 
ceeding century  ten  times  at  least.  At  last,  in  767, 
the  Assyrian  hosts  had  penetrated  as  far  as  Lebanon 
and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  spreading  terror  and  de- 
vastation everywhere.  But  at  the  time  in  question  the 
danger  was  not  very  imminent.  The  Assyrian  empire 
was  then  in  a  state  of  the  uttermost  confusion  and  im- 
potence. Amos's  conviction,  accordingly,  was  no  po- 
litical forecast.  Moreover,  the  most  important  and 
most  unintelligible  point  remains  unexplained  on  such 
an  assumption.  Why  was  this  condemnation  an  abso- 
lute necessity,  willed  and  enforced  by  God  Himself  ? 
This  the  prophet  foresaw  from  his  mere  sense  of  jus- 
tice. 

In  Amos  we  have,  so  to  speak,  the  incorporation 
of  the  moral  law.  God  is  a  God  of  justice  ;  religion 
the  moral  relation  of  man  to  God — not  a  comfortable 
pillow,  but  an  ethical  exaction.  Israel  had  faith  in  its 
God,  He  would  not  leave  his  people  in  the  lurch,  but 
would  assist  them  and  rescue  them  from  all  calamity. 
This  singular  relation  of  Israel  to  its  God,  Amos  ac- 
knowledges ;  *' You  only  have  I  known  of  all  the  fam- 
ilies' of  the  earth."  But  what  is  his  conclusion? 
''Therefore  I  will  punish  you  for  all  your  iniquities." 


AMOS,  43 

Amos  had  already  clearly  perceived  what  a  greater 
than  he  clothed  in  these  words  :  ^'To  whom  much  has 
been  given,  of  him  will  much  be  required."  The  outer 
relation  in  itself  is  entirely  worthless.  ''Are  5^e  not  as 
children  of  the  Ethiopians  unto  me,  O  children  of  Is- 
rael?" says  God  through  Amos.  And  also  God's  spe- 
cial marks  of  favor,  in  having  led  Israel  out  of  Egypt 
and  through  the  desert,  prove  nothing ;  for  He  had  also 
done  the  same  for  Israel's  most  bitter  enemies.  "Have 
I  not  brought  up  Israel  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt?  and 
the  Philistines  from  Caphtor,  and  the  Syrians  from 
Kir?" 

True,  the  people  are  pious  after  their  fashion  ;  they 
cannot  do  enough  in  the  matter  of  feasts  and  sacrifices. 
But  all  this  appears  to  the  prophet  merely  as  an  at- 
tempt to  bribe  the  just  judge,  after  a  manner  very 
prevalent  at  the  time.     Says  God  through  Amos  : 

*'I  hate,  I  despise  your  feast  days,  and  I  will  not 
smell  in  your  solemn  assemblies.  Though  ye  offer  me 
burnt  offerings  and  your  meat  offerings,  I  will  not  ac- 
cept them,  neither  will  I  regard  the  peace  offerings  of 
your  fat  beasts.  Take  thou  away  from  me  the  noise 
of  thy  songs ;  for  I  will  not  hear  the  melody  of  thy 
viols.  But  let  judgment  run  down  as  waters,  and 
righteousness  as  a  mighty  stream."  ''Seek  me  and 
ye  shall  live.  .  .  .  Hate  the  evil  and  love  the  good  and 
establish  judgment  in  the  gate." 

But  it  is  just  in  what  God  here  demands  that  Israel 
is  totally  wanting.     Amos  sees  about  him  rich  volup- 


44  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

tuaries  and  debauchees,  who  derive  the  means  of  car- 
rying on  their  sinful  Hves  by  shameful  extortion  and 
the  scandalous  oppression  of  the  poor  and  the  weak, 
thereby  storing  up  in  their  palaces  oppression  and  ty- 
ranny. Justice  is  turned  to  wormwood  and  righteous- 
ness thrown  to  the  earth ;  a  bribe  is  taken  against  the 
just,  and  the  poor  sold  for  a  pair  of  shoes.  And  the 
worst  of  all  is,  that  they  neither  know  nor  feel  how 
wicked  and  corrupt  they  are  ;  they  live  carelessly  and 
listlessly  on,  and  have  no  conception  of  the  instability 
of  all  things. 

Yet  no  particular  insight  or  revelation  is  necessary. 
Amos  can  call  upon  the  heathen,  the  Philistines,  and 
the  Egyptians  to  bear  witness  to  God's  dealings  with 
Israel.  Even  these  heathen  who  know  not  God  and 
His  commandments  must  see  that  in  Samaria  things 
are  done  which  cry  out  to  heaven,  and  that  Israel  is 
ripe  for  death.  Therefore  must  God  Himself  as  an 
atonement  for  his  despised  sanctity  and  justice  destroy 
his  people.      He  says  : 

*'The  end  for  my  people  Israel  is  at  hand,  I  can 
no  longer  forgive." 

The  blooming  pink  on  the  cheek  of  the  virgin  Is- 
rael is  not  for  the  prophet  a  sign  of  health,  but  the 
hectic  flush  of  one  diseased  and  hastening  to  her  end. 
In  all  the  noise  and  tumult,  the  hurry  and  bustle,  his 
keen  ear  detects  the  death-rattle,  and  he  intones  Is- 
rael's funeral  dirge.     And  history  has  justified  him. 


AMOS.  45 

Forty  years  afterwards  the  kingdom  of  Israel  was 
swept  away,  and  its  people  carried  into  captivity. 

But,  you  may  ask,  is  there  anything  so  wonderful 
in  all  this?  Are  not  these  very  commonplace  truths 
that  are  offered  us  here?  To  think  so,  would  be  a 
serious  error.  As  a  fact,  the  progress  which  the  re- 
ligion of  Israel  made  in  and  through  Amos  cannot  be 
too  highly  rated.  In  Amos  it  breaks  for  the  first  time 
through  the  bonds  of  nationality  and  becomes  a  uni- 
versal religion  instead  of  the  religion  of  a  single  people. 
In  analysing  the  relationship  of  God  to  Israel,  or  at 
least  in  recognising  it  as  morally  conditioned,  which 
by  the  fulfilment  of  the  moral  conditions  could  just  as 
well  be  discharged  by  any  other  people,  he  gave  a 
philosophical  foundation  to  religion,  which  rendered 
it  possible  that  the  religion  of  Israel  and  the  God  of 
Israel  should  not  become  implicated  in  the  fall  of  Is- 
rael, but  could  be  developed  all  the  more  grandly. 
The  fall  of  the  people  of  Israel  was  the  victory  of  God, 
the  triumph  of  justice  and  truth  over  sin  and  decep- 
tion. That  which  had  destroyed  every  other  religion 
could  now  only  strengthen  the  religion  of  Israel. 

This  progress  shows  itself  most  strongly  in  the  con- 
ception of  God.  Ancient  Israel  had  no  monotheism, 
in  the  strict  scientific  sense.  The  gods  of  the  heathen 
were  looked  upon  as  real  beings,  as  actual  gods,  who 
in  their  spheres  were  as  powerful  as  the  God  of  Israel 
in  His.  That  had  now  to  be  otherwise.  Right  and 
justice  exist  beyond  the  boundaries  of   Israel ;  they 


46  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

reach  even  further  than  the  might  of  the  Assyrians. 
For  right  is  right  everywhere,  and  wrong  is  everywhere 
wrong.  If  the  God  of  Israel  was  the  God  of  justice, 
then  His  kingdom  extended  as  far  as  justice  did, — then 
He  was  the  God  of  the  world,  as  Amos  expressed  it  by 
the  name  he  framed  for  God,  Zebaoth,  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  the  God  of  all  power  and  might  in  heaven  and 
on  earth. 

National  boundaries  fell  before  this  universal  power 
of  justice.  When  the  Moabites  burnt  to  lime  the  bones 
of  an  Edomite  king  they  drew  down  upon  themselves 
the  judgment  and  punishment  of  the  God  of  Israel. 
Justice  and  righteousness  are  the  only  reality  in  heaven 
and  on  earth.  Thus  through  Amos  the  God  of  Israel, 
as  the  God  of  justice  and  righteousness,  becomes  the 
God  of  the  entire  world,  and  the  religion  of  this  God  a 
universal  religion. 

Amos  is  one  of  the  most  marvellous  and  incompre- 
hensible figures  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind,  the 
pioneer  of  a  process  of  evolution  from  which  a  new 
epoch  of  humanity  dates.  And  here  again  we  see  that 
the  most  important  and  imposing  things  are  the  sim- 
plest and  apparently  the  most  easily  understood. 


\\ 


HOSEA. 


TT  riTH  all  due  acknowledgment  of  the  greatness  of   " 
*  '     Amos,  it  is  impossible  to  acquit  him  of  a  certain  ' 
narrow-mindedness.     His  God  is  essentially  a  criminal 
judge,  inspiring  fear  but  not  love  ;  and  on  fear  alone 
neither  the  heart  of  man  nor  religion  can  exist.     With 
the  execution  of  the  judgment  matters  are  at  an  end,  so 
far  as  Amos  is  concerned.     What  was  to  take  place 
afterwards,  he  does  not  ask.     This  was  soon  felt  as  a 
defect,  and  a  reconciliatory  conclusion  was  appended 
to  the  Book  of  Amos,  which  contains  little  of  his  ideas, 
and  is  at  variance  in  all  points  with  his  doctrines.   The  - 
real  complement  of  Amos  is  found,  marvellously  de- 
veloped, in  Hosea,  the  prophet  who  came  after  him?  " 
To  Amos's  proposition,  ''God  is  justice, "  Hosea' 
adds  :   ''God  is  love."    Not  as  if  Hosea  were  any  less  < 
severe  in  his  judgment  of  the  evils  of  his  people;  on^ 
the  contrary,  he   shows  himself  even  more  deeply  af- ' 
fected  by  them,  and  his  descriptions  are  far  more  som-^ 
bre   and   ominous   than  those  of   Amos.      But  Hosea  "^ 
cannot  rest  content  with  a  negation.     For  God  is  not 


48  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

a  man,  whose  last  word  is  anger  and  passion.  He  is 
-the  Holy  One,  the  Merciful  One,  whom  pity  over- 
comes. He  cannot  cast  aside  the  people  whom  He 
once  loved.  He  will  dra\v  them  to  Himself,  improve 
them,  educate  them.  God  is  a  kind  Father,  who  pun- 
ishes His  child  with  a  bleeding  heart,  for  its  own  good, 
so  that  He  may  afterwards  enfold  it  all  the  more 
warmly  in  His  arms.  Whilst  in  Amos  the  ethical  ele- 
ment almost  entirely  predominates,  in  Hosea  the  reli- 
gious element  occupies  the  foreground.  He  and  his 
intellectual  and  spiritual  compeer,  Jeremiah,  were  men 
of  emotion,  the  most  intense  and  the  most  deeply  reli- 
gious of  all  the  prophets  of  Israel. 

The  manner  in  which  Hosea  was  made  aware  of 
his  calling  is  highly  interesting  and  significant,  and  is 
a  fresh  proof  of  how  pure  and  genuine  human  sentiment 
always  leads  to  God.  Family  troubles  bred  prophecy 
in  Hosea.  He  took  to  himself  a  wife.  Her  name  and 
that  of  her  father  lead  us  to  conclude  that  she  was  of 
low  birth,  a  child  of  the  people.  We  can  easily  un- 
derstand how  this  serious,  thoughtful  man  was  attracted 
by  the  natural  freshness  and  grace  of  this  simple 
maiden.  But  when  married  she  renders  him  deeply 
unhappy,  and  he  had  finally  to  admit  that  he  had 
wasted  his  love  on  one  unworthy,  on  a  profligate  wo- 
man. We  cannot  clearly  make  out  whether  the  woman 
forsook  him,  or  whether  he  cast  her  away.  But  now 
something  incredible  takes  place.  He,  the  deeply  in- 
jured husband,  cannot  help  regretting  his  wife.   Could 


i) 


HO  SEA,     -  .     .-.v^^  >/ 

the  innermost  and  purest  feeling  of  his  heart  have  been 
only  self-deception?  At  one  time  she  loved  him.  And 
Hosea  feels  himself  responsible  for  her  who  was  his 
wife.  Was  it  not  possible  to  wake  the  better  self  of 
the  woman  again  ?  When  the  smothering  ashes  had 
been  cleared  away,  could  not  the  spark,  which  he  can- 
not consider  to  have  died  out,  spring  up  into  a  bright 
and  pure  flame?  That  was  possible  only  through  self- 
denying  and  tender-hearted  love.  Such  love  could  not 
fail,  in  the  end,  to  evoke  a  genuine  response.  He 
must  try  again  this  faithless  woman,  must  have  her 
near  him.  He  takes  her  back  into  his  house.  He 
cannot  reinstate  her  at  once  into  the  position  and 
rights  of  a  wife ;  she  must  first  pass  through  a  severe 
and  hard  period  of  probation  ;  but  if  she  goes  through 
this  probation,  if  she  yields  to  the  severe  yet  mild  dis- 
cipline of  the  husband  who  still  loves  her,  then  he  will 
wed  her  afresh  in  love  and  trust,  and  nothing  again 
shall  rend  asunder  this  new  covenant. 

Hosea  recognises  in  this  relation  of  his  wife  an 
image  of  the  relation  of  God  to  Israel.  God  has  chosen 
the  poor,  despised  Israelites,  the  slaves  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, to  be  His  people ;  has  allied  Himself  with  them 
in  love  and  faith,  showered  His  blessings  upon  the  na- 
tion, miraculously  guided  it,  and  finally  made  it  great 
and  mighty.  And  all  these  mercies  are  requited  by 
Israel  with  the  blackest  ingratitude ;  its  service  of  God 
is,  in  the  eyes  of  the  prophet,  a  worship  of  Baal,  a 
mockery  of  the  holy  God,  whom  it  knows  not,  and  of 


50  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

whom  it  does  not  want  to  know ;  and  therefore  He  must 
give  it  over  to  perdition.  But  for  God  this  judgment 
is  no  personal  object.  He  wishes  thereby  to  lead  these 
foolish  and  blinded  hearts  to  reflexion  and  to  self-knowl- 
edge. When  they  learn  to  pray  in  distress,  when  they 
humbly  turn  again  to  God  with  the  open  confession  of 
their  sins,  then  will  He  turn  to  them  again,  then  will 
He  accept  into  grace  those  fallen  away,  then  will  they 
be  His  people,  who  are  now  not  His  people,  and  He 
will  be  their  God.  Right  and  justice,  grace  and  pity, 
love  and  faith,  will  He  bring  to  them  as  the  blessings 
and  gifts  of  the  new  covenant,  and  they  will  acknowl- 
edge Him  and  become  His  willing  and  obedient  chil- 
dren. He  will  be  to  Israel  as  the  dew,  and  Israel  shall 
grow  as  the  lily  and  blossom  out  as  the  olive-tree,  and 
stand  there  in  the  glory  and  scent  of  Lebanon. 

God  is  love.  Hosea  recognised  this,  because  he 
bore  love  in  his  heart,  because  it  was  alive  in  him  ; 
love  which  is  long-suffering  and  kind,  which  seeketh 
not  her  own,  is  not  easily  provoked,  which  beareth  all 
things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth 
all  things,  the  love  which  never  faileth.  When  we 
consider  that  all  this  was  absolutely  new,  that  those 
thoughts  in  which  humanity  has  been  educated  and 
which  have  consoled  it  for  nearly  three  thousand  years, 
were  first  spoken  by  Hosea,  we  must  reckon  him 
among  the  greatest  religious  geniuses  which  the  world 
has  ever  produced.  Among  the  prophets  of  Israel, 
Jeremiah  alone  can  bear  comparison  with  him,  and 


HOSEA.  51 

even  here  we  feel  inclined  to  value  Hosea  higher,  as 
the  forerunner  and  pioneer. 

Why  is  it  that  Hosea  is  so  often  misconceived  in 
this,  his  great  importance?  He  has  not  rendered  it 
easy  for  us  to  do  him  justice,  for  his  book  is  unusually 
obscure  and  difficult.  It  is  in  a  way  more  than  any  other 
book  individual  and  subjective.  What  Hosea  gives 
us  are  really  monologues,  the  ebullitions  of  a  deeply 
moved  heart,  torn  by  grief,  in  all  its  varying  moods 
and  sentiments.  Like  the  fantasies  of  one  delirious, 
the  images  and  thoughts  push  and  pursue  one  another. 
But  it  is  exactly  this  subjectivity  and  this  individual- 
ity which  gives  to  the  Book  of  Hosea  its  special  charm 
and  irresistible  efficacy.  He  is  the  master  of  heart-born 
chords,  which  for  power  and  fervor  are  possessed  by 
no  other  prophet.  Let  me  quote,  in  Hosea's  own 
words,  an  especially  characteristic  passage,  a  master- 
piece of  his  book. 

*' When  Israel  was  a  child,  I  loved  him  and  called  - 
him  as  my  son  out  of  Egypt.     But  the  more  I  called  " 
the  more  they  went  from   me  ;  they  sacrificed  unto  ~ 
Baalim  and  burned  incense  to  graven  images.   I  taught " 
Ephraim  also  to  walk,  taking  him  in  my  arms.     But- 
they  knew  not  that  I  meant  good  with  them.      I  drew, 
them  with  cords  of  a  man,  with  bands  of  love  ;  and  I 
was  to  them  as  they  that  take  off  the  yoke  on  their 
jaws,  and  I  laid  meat  unto  them.    Yet  they  will  return 
into  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  Asshur  be  their  king.     Of 
me  they  will  know  nothing.     So  shall  the  sword  abide 


52  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

in  their  cities,  destroy  their  towers,  and  devour  their 
strongholds.  My  people  are  bent  to  backsliding  from 
me ;  when  called  on  from  on  high,  none  looketh  up- 
wards. How  shall  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim?  How 
shall  I  deliver  thee,  Israel?  Shall  I  make  thee  as  Ad- 
mah?  Shall  I  set  thee  as  Zeboim  ?  My  heart  is  turned 
within  me,  my  compassion  is  cramped  together.  I  will 
not  execute  the  fierceness  of  mine  anger.  I  will  not 
return  to  destroy  thee  Ephraim,  for  I  am  God  and  not 
man  ;  the  Holy  One  in  the  midst  of  thee.  I  cannot 
^come  to  destroy." 

Thus  is  love,  grace,  mercy,  ever  the  last  word  :  for 

-  God  is  love.  Thus  religion  becomes  an  act  of  love. 
God  calls  for  love,  not  sacrifice,  knowledge  of  God, 
not  burnt  offerings  ;  and  acquires  thus  a  power  of  in- 
timacy that  till  then  was  unknown.  That  dear,  com- 
forting phrase,  ''the  Lord  thy  God,"  which  places 
every  individual  man  in  a  personal  relation  of  love 
with  God,  was  coined  by  Hosea,  and  is  first  found  in 

-^  his  book      Even  the  requirement  of  being  born  again, 

-  of  having  to  become  completely  new,  in  order  to  be 
^  really  a  child  of  God,  can  be  found  in  Hosea.     He  is 

the  first  who  demands  that  God  shall  not  be  worshipped 
by  images,  and  pours  out  his  bitterest  scorn  on  the 
''  calves  "  of  Dan  and  Bethel,  as  he  dares  to  name  the 
old,  venerated  bull-symbols.  In  fact,  he  demands  a 
rigorous  separation  of  the  worship  of  God  from  the 
worship  of  nature.  Everything  that  is  contradictory 
to  the  real  holy  and  spiritual  nature  of  God  is  paganism 


HOSEA.  53 

and  must  be  done  away  with,  were  it  ten  times  a  ven- 
erable and  traditional  custom. 

That  this  man,  so  apparently  a  man  of  emotion, 
governed  entirely  by  his  moods,  and  driven  helplessly 
hither  and  thither  by  them,  should  have  possessed  a 
formal  theological  system,  which  has  exercised  an  im- 
measurable influence  on  future  generations,  is  a  phe- 
nomenon of  no  slight  significance.  To  prove  this  state- 
ment would  require  too  much  time  and  the  discussion 
of  details.  But  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  en- 
tire faith  and  theology  of  later  Israel  grew  out  of  Hosea, 
that  all  its  characteristic  views  and  ideas  are  to  be  first 
found  in  his  book. 

Hosea  was  a  native  of  the  northern  part  of  the  na- 
tion, its  last  and  noblest  offshoot.  He  wrote  his  book 
between  738  and  735  B.  C,  about  twenty-five  years 
after  the  appearance  of  Amos.  We  already  know  from 
the  short  accounts  in  the  Book  of  Kings  that  this  was 
a  period  of  anarchy  and  dissolution  \  Hosea's  book 
transplants  us  to  this  time,  and  allows  us  to  see  in  the 
mirror  of  the  prophet's  woe-torn  heart  the  whole  life  of 
this  period. 

It  is  a  horrible  panorama  that  unfolds  itself  before 
our  eyes.  One  king  murders  the  other ;  God  gives 
him  in  his  wrath  and  takes  him  away  in  his  displeas- 
ure ;  for  none  can  help,  but  all  are  torn  away  and 
driven  about  by  the  whirlpool  of  events,  as  a  log  upon 
the  waters.  So  hopeless  are  matters  that  the  prophet 
can  pray,  God  should  give  to  Ephraim  a  miscarrying 


54  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

womb  and  dry  breasts,  so  that  fresh  offerings  of  calam- 
ity and  misery  should  not  be  born.  In  such  a  state  of 
affairs  the  thought  strikes  the  prophet,  that  the  whole 
state  and  political  life  is  an  evil,  an  opposition  to  God,  a 
rebellion  against  Him  who  is  the  only  Lord  and  King 
of  Israel,  and  who  will  have  men  entirely  for  himself. 
In  the  hoped-for  future  time  of  bliss,  when  all  things 
are  such  as  God  wishes  them,  there  will  be  no  king 
and  no  princes,  no  politics,  no  alliances,  no  horses  and 
chariots,  no  war  and  no  victory.  What  is  usually 
known  as  the  theocracy  of  the  Old  Testament,  was 
created  by  Hosea,  as  the  direct  outcome  of  those  dis- 
tressful days. 

As  a  man  of  sorrows,  he  was  naturally  not  spared 
a  personal  martyrdom.  He  fulfils  his  mission  in  the 
midst  of  ridicule  and  contumely,  amidst  enmity  and 
danger  to  his  life.  He  occasionally  gives  us  a  sketch 
of  this  in  his  book  :  ''  The  days  of  visitation  are  come, 
the  days  of  recompense  are  come  :  Israel  shall  know 
it!"  And  the  people  shout  back  mockingly  :  <'The 
prophet  is  a  fool,  the  spiritual  man  is  mad."  Hosea 
takes  up  their  words  and  answers  : 

''Verily  I  am  mad,  but  on  account  of  the  multitude 
of  thine  iniquity  and  the  multitude  of  the  persecution." 

''The  snares  of  the  fowler  threaten  destruction  to 
the  prophet  in  all  his  ways  ;  even  in  the  house  of  his 
God  have  they  dug  a  deep  pit  for  him." 

We  know  not  if  Hosea  survived  the  overthrow  of 
Israel.     His  grave,  still  regarded   as   a  sanctuary,  is 


HOSEA.  55 


shown  in  Eastern  Jordan,  on  the  top  of  Mount  Hosea, 
Dschebel  Oscha,  about  three  miles  north  of  es-Salt, 
from  where  we  can  obtain  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
views  of  Palestine. 


ISAIAH. 

TN  THE  year  722  B.  C.  Israel  disappears,  and  Judah 
-■-  succeeds  as  its  heir.  From  the  time  of  Hosea 
prophecy  has  its  existence  wholly  on  the  soil  of  Judah. 
At  the  head  of  these  Judaic  prophets  stands  Isaiah, 
who  began  his  work  shortly  after  the  completion  of  the 
Book  of  Hosea.  He  is  distinguished  from  both  his 
predecessors  by  his  personality  and  whole  style  of  ac- 
tion. Whilst  Amos  only  rages  and  punishes,  Hosea 
only  weeps  and  hopes,  Isaiah  is  a  thoroughly  practical 
and  positive  character,  who  feels  the  necessity  of  in- 
fluencing personally  the  destinies  of  his  people.  Evi- 
dently belonging  to  the  highest  classes — Jewish  tradi- 
tion makes  him  a  priest  of  the  King's  house — he  pos- 
sessed and  made  use  of  his  power  and  influence. 
Seated  at  the  tiller,  he  guides  by  the  divine  compass 
the  little  ship  of  his  fatherland  through  the  rocks  and 
breakers  of  a  wild  and  stormy  period. 

It  was  the  most  critical  period  of  the  whole  history 
of  Judah.  The  question  was.  To  be  or  not  to  be?  If 
Judah  weathered  this  crisis  and  held  out  for  over  a 
century,  it  is  essentially  due  to  the  endeavors  of  the 


ISAIAH.  57 

prophet  Isaiah  who  knew  how  to  make  clear  to  his 
contemporaries  the  wondrous  plan  of  God.  In  Isaiah 
we  find  for  the  first  time  a  clearly  grasped  concep- 
tion of  universal  history.  Nothing  takes  place  on 
earth  but  it  is  directed  by  a  supramundane  holy  will, 
and  has  as  its  ulterior  object  the  honor  of  God.  God 
is  all,  man  is  nothing — thus  perhaps  the  theology  of 
Isaiah  could  be  most  tersely  and  clearly  stated.  God 
is  supramundane,  the  all-powerful,  who  fills  heaven 
and  earth,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  as  Isaiah  loves  to 
call  Him,  who  proves  His  sanctity  by  His  justice. 
Man  is  in  His  hand  as  clay  in  the  hand  of  the  potter. 
Even  the  powerful  Assyrians  are  but  the  rod  of  His 
wrath,  whom  He  at  once  destroys  on  their  presuming 
to  become  more  than  a  mere  tool  in  the  hands  of  God. 
Pride,  therefore,  is  the  special  sin  of  man,  as  where  he 
arrogates  to  himself  the  honor  and  glory  which  belong 
to  God  alone. 

In  one  of  his  earliest  prophecies  Isaiah  bursts  forth 
like  a  thunderstorm  over  everything  great  and  lofty 
that  men  possess  and  men  produce.  All  this  will  be 
mercilessly  levelled  to  the  ground — "the  lofty  looks  of 
man  shall  be  humbled,  and  the  haughtiness  of  men 
shall  be  bowed  down,  and  the  Lord  alone  shall  be  ex- 
alted in  that  day.'*  On  the  other  hand,  the  true  virtue 
of  man  is  loyal  confidence  in  God  and  submission  to 
his  will.  **In  quietness  and  rest  shall  ye  be  saved; 
in  submission  and  confidence  shall  be  your  strength," 
so  does  he  preach  to  his  people. 


58  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

This  guidance  of  the  history  of  the  world  by  a  supra- 
mundane  holy  will,  as  the  fulfilment  of  its  own  honor, 
is  what  Isaiah  repeatedly  terms  ''the  work  of  God." 
It  is  true,  this  work  is  singular,  this  plan  is  wondrous, 
but  man  must  accept  it  and  submit  to  it.  Their  blind- 
ness to  it,  their  wilfully  closing  their  eyes  against  it,  is 
the  severest  reproof  which  the  prophet  brings  against 
his  people.  But  let  us  follow  up  his  work  in  its  single 
stages  and  see  if  we  can  understand  it. 

At  the  opening  of  Isaiah's  theology  we  find  the 
thought,  ''A  remnant  shall  return."  Thus  had  he 
named  his  eldest  son,  just  as  Hosea  had  given  signifi- 
cant names  to  his  children,  and  made  them  in  a  cer- 
tain sense  living  witnesses  of  his  prophetic  preaching. 
Like  Amos,  Isaiah  considers  the  judgment  as  unavoid- 
able, but  like  Hosea  he  sees  in  the  judgment  not  the 
end  but  the  beginning  of  the  true  salvation.  Yet  in  the 
manner  in  which  he  thinks  out  the  realisation  of  this 
salvation,  Isaiah  goes  his  own  way.  He  cannot  think 
of  his  people  as  only  a  rabble  of  godless  evil-doers  ; 
there  must  be  some  among  them  susceptible  of  good, 
and  whom  one  can  imagine  as  worthy  of  becoming  cit- 
izens of  the  future  kingdom  of  God,  and  those  are  the 
''remnant."  This  remnant  is  the  " holy  seed  "  from 
which  the  future  Israel  shall  burst  forth  under  God's 
care.  Thus  Isaiah  sees  the  object  of  the  judgment  to 
be,  the  rooting  out  of  the  godless  and  the  sinners,  so 
that  this  noble  remnant,  which  is  left  over,  shall  con- 
tinue alone  in  the  field  and  develop  free  and  unhin- 


tSAtAH.  59 

dered.  And  this  future  kingdom  of  God  Isaiah  can 
only  picture  to  himself  under  a  mundane  form.  This 
is  his  principal  contrast  to  Hosea,  the  opposition  of 
the  Judaean  to  the  Israelite. 

In  Judah,  where  the  supremacy  of  the  House  of 
David  had  never  been  seriously  opposed,  a  benign 
stability  had  prevailed  in  all  affairs  and  a  doctrine  of 
legitimacy  had  been  established,  owing  to  a  lack  of 
which  Israel  was  incessantly  disturbed  and  hurried  on 
from  revolution  to  revolution,  from  anarchy  to  anarchy. 
These  inestimable  mundane  blessings  the  prophet  is 
anxious  shall  not  be  wanting  in  the  future  kingdom  of 
God.  We  find  in  his  work  a  very  remarkable  passage 
in  which  he  places  a  religious  valuation  on  patriotism, 
and  acknowledges  it  to  be  both  a  gift  and  the  working 
of  the  spirit  of  God  for  men  to  fight  valiantly  for  their 
country  and  to  repel  the  enemy  from  its  imperilled  bor- 
ders. The  future  kingdom  of  God  shall  also  have  its 
judges  and  officials,  and  above  all,  at  its  head  an  earthly 
king  of  the  House  of  David.  But  this  earthly  king  will 
rule  over  a  kingdom  of  peace  and  justice.  Then  will 
all  the  harnesses  of  the  proud  warriors,  and  the  blood- 
stained cloaks  of  the  soldiers  be  consumed  as  fuel  of 
the  fire.  And  in  their  place  the  government  will  be  on 
the  shoulders  of  a  child,  who  shall  be  called  ''Won- 
derful Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting 
Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace."  Of  the  increase  of  peace 
there  will  be  no  end,  and  the  throne  of  David  will  be 
established  on  judgment  and  justice  for  ever  and  ever. 


6o  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

And  again  most  beautifully  in  another  passage,  which 
I  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  in  its  own  words  : 

*'And  there  shall  come  forth  a  sprig  out  of  the  stem 
of  Jesse  and  a  branch  shall  grow  out  of  his  roots  ;  and 
the  spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  rest  upon  him,  the  spirit  of 
wisdom  and  understanding,  the  spirit  of  counsel  and 
might,  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the  fear  of  the 
Lord  ;  the  delight  of  whose  life  shall  be  the  fear  of  the 
Lord.  And  he  shall  not  judge  after  the  sight  of  his 
eyes,  neither  reprove  after  the  hearing  of  his  ears.  But 
with  righteousness  shall  he  judge  the  poor  and  re- 
prove with  equity  for  the  oppressed  of  the  earth  ;  and 
he  shall  smite  the  tyrant  with  the  rod  of  his  mouth,  and 
with  the  breath  of  his  lips  shall  he  slay  the  wicked. 
And  righteousness  shall  be  the  girdle  of  his  loins,  and 
faithfulness  the  girdle  of  his  reins.  The  wolf  also 
shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  shall  lie 
down  with  the  kid ;  and  the  calf  and  the  young  lion 
and  the  fatling  together ;  and  a  little  child  shall  lead 
them.  And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall  feed ;  their 
young  ones  shall  lie  down  together ;  and  the  lion  shall 
eat  straw  like  the  ox.  And  the  sucking  child  shall  play 
on  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the  weaned  child  shall  put 
his  hand  on  the  cockatrice'  den.  They  shall  not  hurt 
nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  mountain  ;  for  the  earth 
shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  wa- 
ters cover  the  sea." 

How,  now,  shall  this  last  design  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment of  the  world  be  fulfilled?    The  mission  of  Isaiah 


ISAIAH,  6i 

begins  apparently  with  a  shrill  dissonance.  As  he 
receives  the  call  and  consecration  to  the  office  of 
prophet  in  the  year  of  the  death  of  Uzziah,  736  B.C., 
God  speaks  to  him:  *'Go  and  tell  this  people,  Hear 
3^e  indeed  but  understand  not ;  and  see  ye  indeed  but 
perceive  not !  Make  the  heart  of  this  people  fat,  and 
make  their  ears  heavy,  and  shut  their  eyes  ;  lest  they 
see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  un- 
derstand with  their  heart,  and  convert,  and  be  healed." 

These  words  sound  terrible,  I  might  almost  say 
godless,  but  they  contain  nevertheless  a  deep  truth. 
Isaiah  has  clearly  recognised  that  man  can  and  dare 
not  be  indifferent  to  the  good.  Either  he  bows  to  the 
good  and  it  becomes  a  blessing  to  him,  or  he  hardens 
his  heart  against  it,  and  it  becomes  to  him  a  double 
curse.  The  nation  as  a  whole  is  neither  ripe  nor  ready 
for  the  future  kingdom  of  God.  And  since  the  judg- 
ment is  the  necessary  transition  to  salvation,  since  the 
quicker  the  judgment  comes,  the  quicker  salvation  can 
be  effected,  therefore  it  is  to  the  interest  both  of  God 
and  Israel  if  the  sins  of  the  latter  shall  speedily  reach 
a  point  where  judgment  must  ensue. 

Uzziah  was  a  vigorous  ruler,  whose  reign  of  fifty- 
two  years  was  a  period  of  power  and  splendor  for  Ju- 
dah.  This,  however,  was  entirely  changed  when  in 
the  year  735  B.  C.  his  grandson  Ahaz  ascended  the 
throne.  This  young  monarch  was  a  perfect  type  of 
the  Oriental  despot,  capricious,  extravagant,  profli- 
gate, cruel,  acknowledging  only  his  own  will  as  the 


62  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

highest  law.  In  his  reign  just  such  conditions  pre- 
vailed in  the  kingdom  as  are  described  in  Israel  b}'' 
Amos  and  Hosea.  Outside  troubles  were  soon  to  be 
added  to  this  inner  dissolution.  Whilst  the  great  As- 
syrian conqueror  Tiglath-Pileser  already  hovered  over 
their  heads  like  a  lowering  thundercloud,  the  small 
kingdoms  had  in  their  confusion  nothing  better  to  do 
than  to  fall  to  blows  with  one  another.  Rezin  of  Da- 
mascus and  Pekah  of  Israel  took  advantage  of  Ahaz's 
weak  and  unpopular  government  and  allied  themselves 
in  an  attack  on  Judah,  which  they  drove  to  such  sore 
straits  that  even  a  siege  of  Jerusalem  seemed  imminent. 
Ahaz  helped  himself  out  of  this  dilemma  by  taking  a 
desperate  step.  He  placed  himself  and  his  kingdom 
voluntarily  under  the  protection  of  Assyria  as  the  price 
of  being  rescued  by  the  Assyrians  from  his  enemies. 

Isaiah  evidently  knew  of  these  machinations.  One 
day  as  Ahaz  was  inspecting  the  works  for  the  defence 
and  fortification  of  Jerusalem,  he  publicly  stepped 
in  front  of  the  king  and  implored  him  to  rely  on  his 
good  cause,  and  to  have  confidence  in  God,  who  would 
surely  help  him.  As  Ahaz  hesitates,  Isaiah  sa37^s  to 
him  :  ''Ask  thee  a  sign  from  the  Lord  thy  God,  ask  it 
either  in  the  depth  or  in  the  height  above."  Tremen- 
dous words,  a  belief  in  God  of  such  intensity  as  to 
appear  to  us  men  of  modern  times  fanatical.  We  can 
hardly  take  umbrage,  therefore,  at  the  remark  of  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  modern  interpreters  of  Isaiah,  that 
the  prophet  had  every  reason  for  being  grateful  to  Ahaz 


ISAIAH.  63 

for  his  unbelief,  in  that  he  did  not  take  him  at  his  word 
and  ask  for  the  sign.  And  now  with  flaming  eyes  Isaiah 
discloses  to  him  his  shortsightedness.  The  means  will 
indeed  help,  but  at  a  high  cost,  for  the  decisive  strug- 
gle between  Assyria  and  Egypt  will  then  have  to  be 
fought  out  on  the  soil  of  Judah,  and  thereby  the  coun- 
try will  be  shaved  with  the  razor  that  has  been  hired, 
namely,  by  them  beyond  the  river  Euphrates,  and  con- 
verted into  a  desert  and  a  wilderness. 

After  that  Isaiah  has  made  Ahaz  and  his  son  respon- 
sible for  all  the  consequences  by  their  want  of  trust  in 
God,  and,  knowing  full  well  that  all  public  labor  would 
now  be  in  vain,  he  temporarily  abandons  the  scene, 
and  begins  a  more  silent  task.  He  sets  to  work  to 
form  and  educate  the  remnant  which  shall  be  left  and 
on  which  depends  the  hope  of  Israel.  He  gathers 
about  him  a  band  of  kindred  hearts,  whom  he  names 
disciples  of  God,  "to  bind  up  the  testimony  and  to 
seal  the  law  "  for  him  and  them. 

*'I  am  thy  son  and  thy  slave.  Come  up  and  save 
me  from  the  King  of  Damascus  and  from  the  King  of 
Israel, "was  the  fatal  message  sent  by  Ahaz  to  Tiglath'- 
Pileser,  who  did  not  wait  to  be  twice  summoned,  but 
came  at  once.  Israel  was  conquered  in  734,  King  Pe- 
kah  executed,  and  two-thirds  of  the  country  annexed. 
In  732,  after  three  years'  hard  fighting,  Damascus  also 
succumbed  to  the  Assyrian  arms.  King  Rezin  was 
executed  and  his  land  converted  into  an  Assyrian 
province. 


64  THE  PROPHETS  OP  ISRAEL, 

One  may  think  of  Ahaz  as  one  likes.  But  political 
foresight  he  certainly  possessed,  as  the  issue  proved. 
By  his  remaining  loyal  and  unwavering  in  his  unsought 
submission  to  Assyria,  he  brought  it  about  that  whilst 
one  after  another  of  the  neighboring  kingdoms  sank, 
whilst  war  and  uproar,  murder  and  plunder  raged 
about  him,  Judah  remained  quiet,  a  peaceful  island  on 
a  storm-tossed  sea. 

Ahaz  died  in  the  year  715  B.C.,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  Hezekiah.  Hezekiah  was  of  a  weak  and 
wavering  character.  Under  him  the  national  party, 
which,  with  the  assistance  of  Egypt,  wished  to  shake 
off  the  Assyrian  yoke,  obtained  the  supremacy.  Here, 
again,  was  work  for  Isaiah.  At  that  time  Assyria  un- 
der Sargon,  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  warrior-kings, 
and,  what  we  must  also  not  overlook,  one  of  the  noblest 
and  most  sympathetic  of  all  the  Assyrian  rulers,  was 
celebrating  her  greatest  triumphs,  winning  her  most 
brilliant  victories,  and  achieving  her  most  marvellous 
successes.  According  to  Isaiah,  that  could  only  have 
been  accomplished  through  God,  or  suffered  by  Him ; 
and  therefore  he  drew  the  conclusion,  that  in  conform- 
ity with  God's  plan  the  Assyrian's  role  was  not  yet  ex- 
hausted, that  God  still  had  need  of  him  and  had  yet 
greater  things  in  store  for  him.  To  rise  against  the 
Assyrian  was  rebellion  against  the  will  of  God,  and  so 
Isaiah  did  all  in  his  power  to  keep  Judah  quiet  and 
guard  it  against  foolish  enterprises. 

When  in  the  year  711  B.C.  the  excitement  was  at 


ISAIAH.  65 

its  highest,  and  men  were  on  the  verge  of  yielding  to 
the  siren  voice  of  Egypt,  Isaiah  appeared  publicly  in 
the  despicable  garb  of  a  prisoner  of  war,  as  a  sign  that 
the  prisoners  of  Egypt  and  Ethiopia  would  be  led 
away  captives  in  this  apparel  by  the  Assyrians.  But 
to  forestall  the  thought  that  the  overpowering  advance 
of  the  Assyrian  Empire  was  after  all  a  serious  danger 
to  Judah,  which  prudence  and  self-preservation  bade 
the  nation  unconditionally  to  guard  against,  Isaiah  at 
this  critical  period  establishes  a  dogma,  which  was  to 
be  of  the  uttermost  importance  for  all  future  ages — the 
dogma  of  the  inviolability  of  Mount  Zion.  There  God 
has  His  dwellmg  on  earth,  His  habitation  ;  whosoever 
touched  this,  touched  the  personal  property  of  God. 
And  such  an  attack  God  could  not  permit ;  even  the 
mighty  Assyrian  would  dash  himself  to  pieces  against 
the  hill  of  Zion,  if  in  his  impious  presumption  he  dared 
to  stretch  out  his  hand  against  it.  Isaiah  really  suc- 
ceeded in  subduing  the  excitement.  Jerusalem  re- 
mained quiet  and  no  further  steps  were  taken. 

In  the  year  705  Sargon  died,  probably  murdered 
by  his  son  and  successor  Sennacherib.  Everywhere 
did  men  rejoice,  that  the  rod  of  the  oppressor  was 
broken,  and  they  now  prepared  themselves  with  all 
their  might  to  shake  off  the  yoke.  Isaiah  remained 
firm  in  his  warnings  to  undertake  nothing  and  to  leave 
everything  in  the  hands  of  God. 

This  was  not  cowardice.  On  the  contrary,  it  was 
a  sublime  consciousness  of  strength,  the  sentiment  of 


66  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL, 

being  in  God's  hand,  of  being  safe  and  protected  by 
Him.  This  is  proved  by  a  very  characteristic  passage, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  in  all  Isaiah.  An 
embassy  had  come  from  Ethiopia  to  Jerusalem  to  so- 
licit an  alliance  against  Assyria  ;  Isaiah  says  :  ''Return 
to  your  country.  All  ye  inhabitants  of  the  world  and 
dwellers  on  the  earth,  see  ye,  when  he  lifteth  up  an 
ensign  on  the  mountains,  and  when  he  bloweth  a 
trumpet,  hear  ye.  For  so  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  I 
will  take  my  rest,  and  I  will  consider  in  my  dwelling- 
place  like  a  clear  heat  upon  herbs  and  like  a  cloud  of 
dew  in  the  heat  of  harvest.  For  afore  the  harvest  when 
the  bud  is  perfect  and  the  sour  grape  is  ripening  in  the 
flower,  he  shall  both  cut  off  the  sprigs  with  pruning 
hooks,  and  take  away  and  cut  down  the  branches. 
They  shall  be  left  together  with  the  fowls  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  to  the  beasts  of  the  earth  ;  and  the  fowls 
shall  summer  upon  them,  and  all  the  beasts  of  the 
earth  shall  winter  upon  them."  Then  will  the  Ethio- 
pians also  bow  down  to  the  God,  who  is  enthroned  on 
Zion. 

Here  God  plays  with  the  Assyrian  as  a  wild  beast 
with  his  prey.  He  lets  him  have  his  own  way,  appears 
even  to  encourage  him  ;  but  at  the  right  moment  He 
has  only  to  strike  out  to  stretch  him  lifeless  on  the 
ground. 

This  time,  however,  Isaiah  was  unable  to  stem  the 
rising  current  of  enthusiastic  patriotism.  In  spite  of 
his  ef  orts  an  alliance  with  Ethiopia  and  Egypt  was 


ISAIAH.  67 

concluded,  and  Hezekiah  together  with  all  the  small 
rulers  of  the  neighboring  lands,  openly  rebelled  against 
the  mighty  Assyrian  monarch. 

Isaiah's  position  at  this  period  is  very  curious,  and 
apparently  a  very  contradictory  one.  Nowhere  does 
he  oppose  his  people  with  greater  harshness,  never  did 
he  utter  bitterer  truths,  or  hurl  more  terrible  threats 
against  them  ;  yet  despite  all  he  remains  unmoved  in 
his  assurance  that  God  will  save  Jerusalem,  and  not 
suffer  it  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  heathen.  And 
wonderful  to  say,  his  prediction  is  fulfilled  ! 

In  the  year  701  Sennacherib  approached  with  a 
mighty  army.  Egypt  and  Ethiopia  were  beaten,  and 
Judaea  horribly  desolated.  The  Assyrians  robbed  and 
plundered  forty-six  cities,  and  drove  200, 150  men  out  of 
this  small  land  of  not  over  1500  miles  square  into  cap- 
tivity. But  the  waves  actually  broke  against  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem.  The  Assyrians  withdrew  without  hav- 
ing accomplished  their  object.  In  the  direst  moment 
of  trouble  God  triumphed  over  them  and  protected  his 
city.  The  fate  to  which  twenty-one  years  previously 
Israel  and  Samaria  had  succumbed,  did  not  befall 
Judah  and  Jerusalem. 

We  can  well  imagine  how  the  wonderful  fulfilment 
of  his  prophecy  must  have  increased  the  authority  of 
the  prophet.  God  Himself  had  imprinted  the  seal  of 
His  approval  on  the  words  of  Isaiah.  And  this  man, 
ever  restlessly  active  for  the  welfare  of  his  people,  at 
once  turned  his  success  to  practical  profit.    The  Book 


68  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

of  Kings  tells  us  that  Hezekiah  reformed  the  worship 
of  the  nation  and  abolished  the  worst  idolatrous  prac- 
tices in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  We  must  surely 
imagine  Isaiah  as  the  motive  power  in  this  reform, 
and  as  the  date  of  its  carrying  out  we  should  most  nat- 
urally select  the  time  succeeding  the  wonderful  pre- 
servation of  Jerusalem.  Thus  with  Isaiah  prophecy 
had  become  a  power  which  exerted  a  decisive  influence 
over  the  destinies  of  the  people,  and  brought  it  safely 
and  surely  to  blessing  and  to  salvation. 

We  know  nothing  of  the  last  days  of  Isaiah.  The 
legend  that  he  suffered  martyrdom  at  an  advanced  age, 
is  wholly  unfounded,  and  in  itself  highly  improbable. 

With  Isaiah  sank  into  the  grave  the  greatest  classic 
of  Israel.  Never  did  the  speech  of  Canaan  pour  forth 
with  more  brilliant  splendor  and  triumphant  beauty 
than  from  his  lips.  He  has  a  strength  and  power  of 
language,  a  majesty  and  sublimity  of  expression,  an 
inexhaustible  richness  of  fitting  and  stirring  imagery, 
that  overwhelms  the  reader,  nay,  fairly  bewilders  him. 

This  and  the  circumstance  that  too  little  is  known 
of  his  predecessors,  is  probably  the  reason  why  Isaiah 
is  often  overrated.  He  was  certainly  one  of  the  great- 
est men  of  Israel.  But  the  ideas  at  the  basis  of  his 
prophecies  are  already  found  in  Amos  and  Hosea. 
What  he  added  of  his  own  was  a  two-edged  sword.  A 
hundred  years  later  Jeremiah  had  to  wage  a  life  and 
death  struggle  against  them  ;  for  wrongly  extended  and 


ISAIAH.  69 

exaggerated,  those  very  ideas  ultimately  brought  about 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  Judah. 

In  religious  depth  and  fervor  Isaiah  is  far  surpassed 
by  Hosea.  We  do  not  find  in  the  titanic  pathos  of 
Isaiah  the  touching,  heart-born  tones  that  sob  out  and 
caress  us  in  the  Book  of  Hosea.  His  historical  and 
religious  importance  lies  in  something  quite  different, 
namely,  in  that  he  saved  Judah,  and  in  doing  so  saved 
religion. 

The  Israelites,  who  were  carried  away  into  Assyr- 
ian captivity  in  722,  are  untraceably  lost.  They  were 
absorbed  by  their  conquerors.  Had  the  same  fate  be- 
fallen Judah  and  Jerusalem,  they  too  would  have  dis- 
appeared. That  their  ruin  was  delayed  a  century  and 
time  gained  in  which  religion  could  firmly  establish 
itself  and  strike  deep  roots,  so  as  to  survive  the  over- 
throw of  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  was  Isaiah^s  work  and 
merit. 

In  conclusion  I  should  like  to  make  some  brief 
mention  of  a  contemporary  of  Isaiah  who  forms  an  ex- 
ceedingly curious  contrast  to  him — Micah  the  Moras- 
thite.  In  him  Amos  lives  again.  Like  Amos,  a  dweller 
in  the  country,  and  a  man  of  the  people,  his  straight- 
forward and  lively  sense  of  justice  suffered  itself  to  be 
neither  silenced  nor  repressed.  A  moral  indignation, 
truly  awe-inspiring,  overpowers  him  at  all  he  sees  and 
experiences.  Especially  the  sins  of  the  nobility  of  Jeru- 
salem, those  unscrupulous  bloodsuckers  and  despoilers 
of  the  people,  who  stopped  at  naught  if  they  had  but 


70  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  power,  are  so  atrocious  that  they  can  only  be  atoned 
for  by  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  Therefore  he  calls 
to  them  : 

''Hear  this  ye  heads  of  the  house  of  Jacob  and 
princes  of  the  house  of  Israel  that  abhor  judgment  and 
pervert  all  equity.  Who  build  up  Zion  with  blood 
and  Jerusalem  with  iniquity.  The  heads  thereof  judge 
for  reward,  and  the  priests  thereof  teach  for  hire,  and 
the  prophets  thereof  divine  for  money — and  yet  do 
they  lean  upon  God  and  say,  Is  not  God  among  us? 
none  evil  can  come  upon  us.  Therefore  shall  Zion  for 
your  sake  be  plowed  as  a  field  and  Jerusalem  shall  be- 
come heaps,  and  the  mountain  of  the  temple  as  the 
high  places  of  the  forest. " 

A  strange  contrast  between  the  two  contempora- 
ries. One  cannot  help  thinking  that  Micali  is  in  direct 
controversy  with  Isaiah.  History  has  proved  both  to 
be  right.  At  first  Isaiah  was  victorious.  But  one  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  years  after  Jerusalem  was  rescued  from 
the  hands  of  Sennacherib,  the  prophecy  of  Micah  was 
fulfilled.  Jerusalem  became  a  heap  of  ruins,  the  tem- 
ple a  smoking  pile,  and  the  people  were  led  away  into 
far  captivity. 


THE  REACTION  AGAINST  THE 
PROPHETS. 


IT  WAS  Hosea  who  first  perceived  that  the  tradi- 
tional system  of  worship,  which  in  his  eyes  was  ar- 
rant paganism,  constituted  the  real  cancer  that  was 
eating  the  life  of  Israel.  Isaiah  shared  his  view,  and, 
being  of  a  practical  nature,  acted  upon  it.  The 
prophecy  of  Israel  openly  and  hostilely  attacks  the 
religion  of  the  people  and  endeavors  to  mould  it  ac- 
cording to  the  prophetic  ideal.  That  was  no  easy 
task  and  had,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  to  meet  with 
bitter  and  fanatical  opposition.  We  men  of  modern 
times  can  scarcely  appreciate  what  religion  means  to 
a  primitive  people,  how  it  governs  and  enters  into  all 
their  relations  and  becomes  the  pulse  and  motive 
power  of  their  whole  life.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
power  of  custom  in  religion  cannot  be  too  highly 
rated.  Tradition  is  considered  sacred  because  it  is 
tradition.  The  heart  clings  to  it.  The  solemn  mo- 
ments of  life  are  inseparably  bound  up  with  it,  and 
every  alteration  of  it  appears  as  blasphemy,  as  an  in- 
sult to  God. 


72  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

And  now  let  us  consider  the  feelings  of  the  people 
of  Judah  towards  the  reforms  proposed  and  inaugur- 
ated by  Isaiah.  The  ancient  and  honored  relics, 
which  could  be  traced  back  to  the  Patriarchs  and  to 
Moses,  before  which  David  had  knelt,  which  from 
time  immemorial  had  been  to  every  Israelite  the  most 
sacred  and  beloved  objects  on  earth,  should  now  of  a 
sudden,  to  quote  Isaiah,  be  considered  as  filth  to  be 
cast  to  moles  and  bats,  because  a  few  fanatics  in 
Jerusalem  did  not  find  them  to  their  taste  !  Now  in- 
deed, if  the  new  God  whom  the  prophets  preached 
(for  thus  he  must  have  appeared  to  the  people)  had 
only  been  more  powerful  than  the  older,  whom  their 
fathers  had  worshipped,  if  things  had  only  gone  on 
better — well  and  good.  But  there  was  no  trace  of 
this. 

So  long  as  we  were  confined  solely  to  the  Old  Tes- 
tament for  our  knowledge  of  Jewish  history,  it  was 
supposed  naturally  enough  that  with  the  futile  attack 
on  Jerusalem  in  the  year  701  the  Assyrian  domination 
in  Judah  was  broken  for  all  time,  and  that  Judah  had 
again  become  free.  But  that  is  not  the  case.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  Assyrian  power  only  attained  to  the 
zenith  of  its  glory  under  the  two  successors  of  Sen- 
nacherib, Esarhaddon  and  Asurbanipal.  It  is  true 
that  Sennacherib  did  not  again  enter  Palestine,  as  he 
had  enough  to  do  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  own 
capital,  and  it  may  be  that  for  a  short  time  a  certain 
respite  was  gained.     But   Israel  remained  as  before 


THE  REACTION'  AGAINST  THE  PROPHETS.       73 

an  Assyrian  province,  and  Judah  as  before  the  vassal 
of  the  Assyrian  monarch,  having  yearly  to  send  a  trib- 
ute to  Nineveh.  In  fact,  the  Assyrian  rule  became 
more  and  more  oppressive.  Esarhaddon  had  laid  the 
keystone  in  the  Assyrian  domination  of  the  world  by 
his  conquest  of  Egypt.  Thrice  in  rapid  succession 
had  the  Assyrian  army  forced  its  way  to  Thebes,  and 
Assyrian  viceroys  governed  Egypt  as  an  Assyrian 
province.  Asurbanipal  had  also  fought  in  Egypt,  in 
Arabia,  and  Syria,  and  we  can  easily  understand  that 
in  all  these  attacks  Judasa,  the  natural  sallying-port 
from  Asia  into  Africa,  and  the  natural  point  of  union 
between  Syria  and  Egypt,  was  sucked  into  the  raging 
whirlpool  and  suffered  severely. 

Such  a  state  of  affairs  was  not  calculated  to  recom- 
mend the  reform  of  the  prophets.  On  the  contrary, 
the  religious  sentiment  of  the  people  could  not  but  see 
in  it  all  a  punishment  inflicted  by  the  national  Deity 
for  the  neglect  of  his  wonted  service.  The  popular 
religion  understood  the  great  danger  that  threatened 
it.  The  prophecies  had  smitten  it  with  a  deadly 
stroke,  but  it  was  nevertheless  not  inclined  to  give  up 
the  struggle  without  a  blow.  It  accepted  the  chal- 
lenge and  soon  wrested  a  victory  from  the  reformers. 

It  is  true,  so  long  as  Hezekiah  lived,  submission  was 
imperative.  For  the  reform  had  become  a  law  of  the 
kingdom,  enacted  by  him,  and  was  in  a  certain  measure 
his  personal  creation.  He  died  in  the  year  686,  leav- 
ing the  kingdom  to  Manasseh,  his  son,  a  child  twelve 


74  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

years  old.  How  it  came  to  pass,  will  forever  remain 
an  enigma,  owing  to  the  utter  lack  of  records ;  but 
the  fact  remains  certain  that  under  Manasseh  a  ter- 
rible and  bloody  reaction  set  in  against  the  prophets. 
This  is  the  period  of  which  Jeremiah  says  that  the 
sacred  sword  devoured  the  prophets  like  a  raging 
lion,  when  all  Jerusalem  was  full  of  innocent  blood 
from  one  end  to  the  other.  All  that  Hezekiah  had 
destroyed  was  restored.  No  memories  of  the  hated 
innovations  were  suffered  to  remain. 

A  further  step  was  taken.  Genuine  paganism  now 
made  its  entry  into  Judaea  and  Jerusalem.  The  over- 
powering strength  of  the  Assyrians  must  have  made  a 
deep  impression  on  their  contemporaries.  Were  not 
the  gods  of  Assyria  more  mighty  than  the  gods  of  the 
nations  subjugated  by  it  ?  And  so  we  find  under  Man- 
asseh the  Assyrio-Babylonian  worship  of  the  stars  intro- 
duced into  Judaea,  and  solemn  festivals  held  in  honor 
of  it  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  Even  foreign  habits 
and  customs  were  adopted.  The  healthful  simplicity 
of  the  fathers  was  discarded  to  exchange  therefor  the 
dangerous  blessings  of  an  overrefined  and  vitiated 
civilisation.  This  also  had  its  effect  on  the  worship 
of  God.  The  ritual  became  more  and  more  gaudy 
and  elaborate.  Incense,  of  which  ancient  Israel  knew 
nothing,  appears  from  this  time  as  an  essential  con- 
stituent of  the  service,  and  even  that  most  terrible  of 
religious  aberrations,  the  sacrificing  of  children,  fully 
calculated  to  excite  with  gruesome  and  voluptuous  tit- 


THE  REACTION  AGAIMST  THE  PROPHETS.       75 

illation  the  unstrung  nerves  of  an  overwrought  civili- 
sation, became  the  fashion.  King  Manasseh  himself 
made  his  firstborn  son  pass  through  the  fire,  and 
everywhere  in  Jerusalem  did  the  altars  of  Moloch 
send  up  their  smoke,  whilst  a  bloody  persecution  was 
instituted  against  the  prophets  and  all  their  party. 

These  events  made  on  the  minds  of  the  devout 
men  in  Israel  an  indelible  impression,  and  the  pro- 
phecies of  Isaiah  as  to  the  indestructibility  of  Zion 
and  of  the  House  of  David,  were  forgotten  in  their 
terror.  It  became  the  settled  conviction  of  the  best 
spirits  that  God  could  never  forgive  all  this,  but  that, 
owing  to  the  sins  of  Manasseh,  the  destruction  both  of 
Judah  and  Jerusalem  was  inevitable. 

It  is  a  memorable  fact  that  during  this  whole  period, 
almost,  prophecy  remained  dumb  in  Israel.  We  can 
only  point  to  one  brief  fragment  with  anything  like 
assurance,  and  that  is  now  read  as  Chapter  6  and  the 
beginning  of  Chapter  7  of  the  book  of  Micah.  This 
fragment  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  that  we  possess, 
and  still  resounds,  borne  on  Palestrina's  magic  notes, 
as  an  improperia,  on  every  Good  Friday  in  the  Sistine 
Chapel  at  Rome.     God  pleads  with  Israel : 

**0,  my  people,  what  have  I  done  unto  thee  ?  And 
wherein  have  I  wearied  thee?     Testify  against  me." 

And  as  now  the  people  bow  themselves  down  be- 
fore God  in  answer  to  His  divine  accusations,  and  are 
anxious  to  give  up  everything,  even  the  first-born,  for 
their  transgressions,  then  speaks  the  prophet : 


76  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

''He  hath  shewed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good  ;  and 
what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly, 
and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy 
God?'* 

This  fragment  is  important,  as  testifying  how  dur- 
ing this  time  of  heavy  affliction  and  persecution,  piety 
deepened  and  became  more  spiritual ;  how  it  retired 
within  itself  and  saw  itself  in  an  ever  truer  and  clearer 
light,  finally  to  come  forth  purified  and  strengthened. 

Prophecy  was  again  aroused  from  its  slumbers  by 
the  trumpet  notes  of  the  world's  history.  In  650  the 
Assyrian  empire  was,  if  anything,  greater  and  mightier 
than  ever.  But  now  destiny  knocked  at  its  gates. 
From  the  coasts  of  the  Black  Sea  a  storm  broke  forth 
over  Asia,  such  as  man  had  never  before  witnessed. 
Wild  tribes  of  horsemen,  after  the  manner  of  the  later 
Huns  and  Mongolians,  overran  for  more  than  twenty 
years  all  Asia  on  their  fast  horses,  which  seemed 
never  to  tire,  spreading  everywhere  desolation  and 
terror.  Egypt  had  torn  itself  away  from  the  rule  of 
the  Assyrians,  and  a  new  and  terrible  enemy  in  the 
Medes  who  were  now  consolidating  their  forces  in 
the  rear  of  Nineveh  appeared.  The  Assyrian  world- 
edifice  cracked  in  all  its  joints,  and  grave  revolutions 
were  imminent.  At  once  prophecy  is  at  hand  with  the 
small  but  exceedingly  valuable  book  of  Zephaniah. 
The  thunder  of  the  last  judgment  rolls  in  Zephaniah's 
powerful  words,  whose  dithyrambic  lilt  and  wondrous 
music  no  translation  can  render.     The  Dies  irce^  dies 


THE  REACTION  AGAINST  THE  PROPHETS.       77 

illa^  which  the  Roman  Church  and  the  whole  musical 
world  now  sings  as  a  requiem,  is  taken  word  for  word 
from  Zephaniah. 

<'The  great  day  of  the  Lord  is  near,  it  is  near  and 
hasteth  greatly,  even  the  voice  of  the  day  of  the  Lord ; 
the  mighty  man  shall  cry  there  bitterly.  That  day  is 
a  day  of  wrath,  a  day  of  trouble  and  distress,  a  day  of 
wasteness  and  desolation,  a  day  of  darkness  and 
gloominess,  a  day  of  clouds  and  thick  darkness.  A 
day  of  the  trumpet  and  alarm  against  the  fenced  cities 
and  against  the  high  towers.  And  I  will  bring  distress 
upon  men,  that  they  shall  walk  like  blind  men  because 
they  have  sinned  against  the  Lord  ;  and  their  blood 
shall  be  poured  out  as  dust,  and  their  marrow  as  the 
dung.  Neither  their  silver  nor  their  gold  shall  be 
able  to  deliver  them  in  the  day  of  the  Lord's  wrath ; 
but  the  whole  land  shall  be  devoured  by  the  fire  of  his 
jealousy :  for  he  shall  make  even  a  speedy  riddance 
of  all  them  that  dwell  in  the  land." 

The  cause  of  this  terrible  judgment  is  the  sins  of 
Manasseh,  which  Zephaniah  describes  with  drastic 
vividness  at  the  beginning  of  his  book.  Only  the 
righteous  and  the  meek  of  the  earth  shall  escape,  who 
will  form  at  the  end  of  time  a  people  pleasing  unto 
God. 

In  the  time  of  Nahum  events  had  progressed  still 
further.  His  book  has  for  its  sole  subject  the  impend- 
ing destruction  of  Nineveh.  It  was  probably  written 
in  the  year  625,  as  the  Medes  under  king  Phraortes 


78  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

made  their  first  attack  on  Nineveh,  but  did  not  ac- 
complish their  aim.  The  merited  judgment  shall  now 
fall  upon  the  Assyrian  nation  for  all  the  oppressions 
and  persecutions  which  it  has  brought  upon  the  world, 
and  especially  on  the  land  and  people  of  God.  In 
a  religious  and  prophetic  sense  the  contents  of  the 
book  are  not  important,  but  its  aesthetic  and  poetical 
value  is  on  that  account  the  higher,  the  language  full 
of  power  and  strength,  and  possessing  a  pathos  and 
fervor  which  only  true  passion  can  inspire.  It  is  in  a 
certain  measure  the  cry  of  distress  and  revenge  from 
all  the  nations  oppressed  and  downtrodden  by  that 
detestable  people,  which  is  here  re-echoed  to  us  with 
irresistible  power  from  the  Book  of  Nahum. 

The  Book  of  Habakkuk  also  belongs  to  this  series. 
The  destruction  of  Nineveh  is  its  subject.  But  in 
Habakkuk's  Book  the  Chaldeans  appear  as  the  future 
instruments  of  the  divine  wrath.  Habakkuk  is  a  mas- 
ter of  eloquence  and  imagery.  His  description  of  the 
Assyrian  as  the  robber  who  opens  his  jaws  like  hell, 
and  is  as  insatiable  as  death,  who  devoureth  all 
people,  and  swalloweth  down  all  nations,  is  among 
the  most  magnificent  productions  of  Hebrew  litera- 
ture. 

*'He  treateth  men  as  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  as 
creeping  things  that  have  no  ruler  over  them.  He 
fishes  up  all  of  them  with  the  angle,  he  catches 
them  in  his  net,  and  gathers  them  in  his  drag; 
therefore  does  he  rejoice  and  is  glad.     Therefore  he 


THE  REACTION  AGAINST  THE  PROPHETS.       79 

sacrifices  unto  his  net,  and  burns  incense  unto  his 
drag,  because  by  them  is  his  portion  plenteous  and 
his  meat  fat.  Shall  he  then  ever  draw  his  sword,  and 
not  spare  continually  to  slay  the  nations  ?  " 

In  Habakkuk  the  ethical  and  religious  element  is 
duly  treated.  Pride  causes  the  fall  of  the  Assyrian, 
the  hybris  in  the  sense  of  Greek  tragedy,  for,  as 
Habakkuk  sharply  and  clearly  expresses  it,  he  makes 
<*his  strength  his  God."  Might  for  the  Assyrian  ex- 
ceeds right.  Because  he  has  the  might,  he  oppresses 
and  enslaves  nations  which  have  done  him  no  harm. 

The  universal  moral  law  demands  his  destruction. 

* 

*  * 

But  now  we  must  retrace  our  steps  for  a  time.  As 
Zephaniah,  Nahum,  and  Habakkuk  form  an  inti- 
mately connected  group,  it  appeared  expedient  to 
treat  them  together.  But  Jeremiah  appeared  before 
Nahum,  and  between  Nahum  and  Habakkuk  an  event 
happened  which  ranks  among  the  most  important  and 
momentous  in  the  history  of  mankind. 


DEUTERONOMY. 


UNDER  King  Manasseh  the  ancient  popular  religion 
had  won  a  complete  and  bloody  victory  over  the 
prophets.  But,  like  all  spiritual  powers,  prophecj^ 
could  only  gain  by  being  combated  and  persecuted. 
The  blood  of  its  martyrs  had  not  flowed  in  vain,  and 
new  life  was  soon  to  spring  from  it. 

In  641  B.  C,  King  Manasseh  died  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Amon,  his  son.  During  the  latter's  life, 
things  continued  as  they  were.  In  the  second  year  of 
his  reign,  however,  Amon  was  murdered  in  his  own 
house  by  his  servants.  The  Book  of  Kings  recounts 
this  event,  but  tells  us  nothing  of  the  accompanying 
circumstances,  and  nothing  at  all  of  the  cause  of  the 
conspiracy.  The  book,  continuing,  says,  that  the  peo- 
ple slew  the  conspirators  and  placed  Josiah,  the  son  of 
the  murdered  king,  a  boy  of  eight,  on  the  throne. 

If  ever  we  had  just  ground  for  complaint,  it  exists 
here.  We  know  really  nothing  of  this  extraordinarily 
important  century,  except  a  few  scattered  facts.  The 
great  main-springs  of  its  action   are  entirely  hidden 


DEUTERONOMY.  8i 

from  us,  and  the  results  only  are  known.  From  a  youth 
of  Josiah's  age  naturally  nothing  was  to  be  expected. 
The  government  was  in  the  hands  of  corrupt  courtiers, 
the  people  as  described  by  Zephaniah  worshipped  both 
the  God  of  Israel  and  Baal,  Moloch  and  the  hosts  of 
heaven,  that  is  the  stars,  clad  themselves  after  strange 
fashions,  and  filled  the  house  of  the  Lord  with  vio- 
lence and  deceit, — who  were  settled  on  their  lees  and 
who  spake  in  their  hearts,  ' '  The  Lord  does  no  good, 
neither  evil  ! " 

But  the  times  were  such  as  to  rouse  even  these 
careless  spirits.  Men  were  gradually*coming  to  see 
the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  slowly  but  surely  an 
inner  change  seems  to  have  been  wrought  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people.  The  prophetic  party,  which  had  ap- 
parently not  been  persecuted  for  some  time,  must  have 
kept  up  secretly  a  continuous  and  successful  agitation. 
The  priests  in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  must  have  been 
won  over  to  it,  or  at  least  influenced  by  it,  and  espe- 
cially must  its  aspirations  have  found  access  to  the 
heart  of  the  young  king,  who,  from  all  we  know  of  him, 
was  a  thoroughly  good  and  noble  character. 

The  time  now  appeared  ripe  for  a  bold  stroke.' 
When,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  Josiah,  621  B.C., 
Shaphan  the  scribe  paid  an  official  visit  to  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem,  the  priest  Hilkiah  handed  to  him  a  book 
of  laws  which  had  been  found  there.  Shaphan  took 
the  book  and  immediately  brought  it  to  the  King,  be- 
fore whom  he  read  it. 


82  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

The  impression  which  the  book  made  on  the  King 
must  have  been  tremendous.  He  rent  his  garments, 
and  sent  at  once  a  deputation  to  Huldah,  the  proph- 
etess, who  was  the  wife  of  one  of  his  privy  officers  and 
evidently  held  in  high  esteem.  Huldah  declared  in 
favor  of  the  book,  and  the  King  now  went  energetically 
to  work.  The  entire  people  were  convened  in  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem,  and  the  King  entered  with  them  into  a 
covenant.  Both  parties  mutually  and  solemnly  pledged 
themselves  to  acknowledge  this  book  as  the  fundamen- 
tal law  of  the  kingdom,  and  to  observe  its  commands. 
Upon  the  basis  of  it,  a  thorough  reorganisation  was 
effected  and  the  celebrated  reform  of  worship  carried 
out,  of  which  we  read  in  the  Book  of  Kings. 

The  events  of  the  year  621  at  Jerusalem  were  ap- 
parently of  no  great  moment.  But  their  consequences 
have  been  simply  immeasurable.  By  them  Israel,  nay, 
the  whole  world,  has  been  directed  into  new  courses. 
We  are  to-day  still  under  the  influence  of  beliefs  which 
were  then  promulgated  for  the  first  time,  under  the 
sway  of  forces  which  then  first  came  into  life.  It  is 
imperative,  therefore,  to  enter  into  this  matter  more 
minutely,  as  the  entire  later  development  of  prophecy 
is  quite  unintelligible  unless  we  have  a  clear  concep- 
tion of  it. 

Our  first  question  must  be  :  What  is  this  book  of 
laws  of  Josiah,  which  was  discovered  in  the  year  621? 
The  youthful  De  Wette,  in  his  thesis  for  a  professor- 
ship at  Jena  in  the  year  1805,  clearly  proved  that  this 


DEUTERONOMY.  83 

book  of  laws  was  essentially  the  fifth  book  of  Moses, 
known  as  Deuteronomy.  The  book  is  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly marked  off  from  the  rest  of  the  Pentateuch  and 
its  legislation,  whilst  the  reforms  of  worship  intro- 
duced by  Josiah  correspond  exactly  to  what  it  called 
for.  The  proofs  adduced  by  De  Wette  have  been  gen- 
erally accepted,  and  his  view  has  become  a  common 
possession  of  Old  Testament  research,  having  afforded 
us  our  first  purchase,  so  to  speak,  for  a  true  under- 
standing of  the  religious  history  of  Israel. 

The  conceptions  and  aims  of  Deuteronomy  are 
thoroughly  prophetic.  It  seeks  to  realise  the  hoped 
for  Kingdom  of  God  as  promised  by  the  prophets. 
Israel  is  to  become  a  holy  people,  governed  by  the  will 
of  God;  and  this  holiness  is  to  be  manifested  through 
worship  and  justice,  so  that  man  shall  serve  God 
righteously  and  judge  his  fellow-men  uprightly.  The 
first  point  is  the  more  important  with  Deuteronomy ; 
its  chief  attention  is  devoted  to  the  cultus,  and  here  it 
broke  awaj^,  in  all  fundamental  points,  from  the  ideas 
of  ancient  Israel  and  turned  the  development  of  things 
into  entirely  new  courses. 

The  fundamental  problem  of  religion  is  the  relation 
between  God  and  the  world.  Ancient  Israel  had  seen 
both  in  one  \  all  things  worldly  appeared  to  it  divine  ; 
in  everything  appertaining  to  the  world  it  found  the 
expressions  and  revelations  of  God.  The  entire  na- 
tional life  was  governed  and  ruled  by  religion  ;  in  all 
places  and  all  things  God  was  to  his  people  a  living 


84  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  real  presence.  The  result  of  this  naturally  was 
the  secularisation  of  God,  which  the  prophets  felt  to 
be  an  exceedingly  grave  danger.  The  right  solution  of 
the  problem  would  have  been  that  given  by  Jesus,  who 
openly  recognised  the  divinisation  of  the  world  as  the 
rightful  task  of  religion — to  fill  and  sanctify  the  world 
with  the  spirit  of  God,  and  thus  to  make  it  a  place  and 
a  field  for  God's  work,  a  Kingdom  of  God,  and  a  tem- 
ple of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Deuteronomy  pursues  a  differ- 
ent course;  it  dissolves  the  bond  between  God  and  the 
world,  tears  them  asunder,  and  ends  by  depriving  the 
world  entirely  of  its  divinity.  On  the  one  hand,  a  world 
without  a  God  ;  on  the  other,  a  God  without  a  world. 
Nevertheless,  this  last  was  more  the  result  than  the  in- 
tention of  Deuteronomy.  At  least,  wherever  it  con- 
sciously carries  out  this  view  it  is  justified,  especially 
when  it  requires  that  God  shall  not  be  worshipped 
through  symbols  or  images,  and  that  every  figurative 
representation  of  the  Godhead,  or  its  simulation  by 
certain  venerated  forms  of  nature,  must  be  destroyed 
root  and  branch.  We  have  here  merely  the  outcome 
of  the  prophetic  apprehension  that  God  is  a  spirit,  and 
therefore  must  be  worshipped  as  a  spirit.  But  Deu- 
teronomy makes  additional  requirements.  Obviously 
in  consequence  of  the  dogma  of  Isaiah  respecting  the 
central  importance  of  Mount  Zion  as  the  dwelling- 
place  of  God  on  earth,  Deuteronomy  insists  that  God 
can  only  be  worshipped  at  Jerusalem ;  only  there  should 
acts  of  adoration  be  permitted,  and  all  other  sanctua- 


DE  UTER  ONOMY.  85 

ries  and  places  of  worship  outside  of  Jerusalem  should 
be  destroyed. 

The  idea  that  the  centralisation  of  worship  in  a 
single  place  rendered  it  easier  of  supervision  and  en- 
sured the  preservation  of  its  purity  may  have  contrib- 
uted to  the  adoption  of  this  last  measure  ;  and  it  must 
certainly  be  admitted  that  the  local  sanctuaries  in 
smaller  towns  were  really  breeding-places  of  flagrant 
abuses.  But  the  consequences  of  the  measure  were 
simply  incalculable.  It  was  virtually  tantamount  to  a 
suppression  of  religion  in  the  whole  country  outside  of 
Jerusalem. 

Up  to  this  time,  every  town  and  village  had  had  its 
sanctuary,  and  access  to  God  was  an  easy  matter  for 
every  Israelite.  When  his  heart  moved  him  either  to 
give  expression  to  his  thanks,  or  to  seek  consolation  in 
his  sorrow,  he  had  only  to  go  to  his  place  of  worship. 
Every  difficult  question  of  law  was  laid  before  God ; 
that  is,  argued  in  the  sanctuary  and  decided  by  a 
solemn  oath  of  purification.  And  to  one  and  all  these 
sanctuaries  granted  the  right  of  refuge.  Here  was  the 
fugitive  safe  from  his  pursuer,  and  he  could  only  be 
removed  from  the  sanctuary  and  delivered  up  provided 
he  were  a  convicted  felon.  Moreover,  in  the  old  days 
of  Israel  all  these  sanctuaries  were  oracles,  where  at 
any  time  men  could  ask  advice  or  aid  in  difficult  or 
dangerous  matters.  And  many  things  which  have  for 
us  a  purely  secular  character,  were  to  the  ancient  Is- 
raelites acts  of  divine  service.     Every  animal  slaugh- 


86  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

tered  was  a  sacrifice ;  every  indulgence  in  meat,    a 
sacrificial  feast. 

All  this  ceased  with  the  legislation  of  Deuteron- 
omy. The  Israelite  was  now  compelled  to  carry  on 
his  daily  life  without  God,  and  thus  accustomed  him- 
self to  consider  life  as  something  apart  from  religion, 
and  in  no  wise  connected  with  God.  Religion  was  re- 
duced to  the  three  great  feasts,  which  Deuteronomy 
likewise  fundamentally  reconstituted. 

In  ancient  Israel  the  three  great  feasts  were  thanks- 
giving festivals.  At  the  feast  of  the  unleavened  bread 
the  first  fruits  of  the  fields,  of  the  barley  harvest,  were 
offered  up  to  God.  The  Feast  of  Weeks,  or  Pente- 
cost, was  the  regular  harvest  feast,  when  the  wheat  was 
garnered,  and  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  was  the  autumn 
festival,  the  feast  of  the  ingathering  of  the  wine  and 
the  fruit.  This  natural  foundation  of  the  three  great 
festivals,  which  brought  them  into  organic  relation 
with  each  individual  and  his  personal  life,  and  in  fact 
formed  for  him  the  real  crises  of  his  life,  was  now  de- 
stroyed, and  an  ecclesiastical  or  ecclesiastico-histor- 
ical  basis  given  to  them.  The  feast  of  unleavened 
bread  took  place  in  remembrance  of  the  flight  out  of 
Egypt ;  the  Feast  of  Weeks  later  in  remembrance  of  the 
giving  of  the  law  on  Sinai,  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  in 
remembrance  of  the  journey  through  the  desert,  when 
Israel  dwelt  in  tents.  A  difference  thus  was  created 
spontaneously  between  holy  events  and  secular  events, 
week  days  and  festivals.     Routine  every-day  life  was 


DEUTERONOMY.  87 

secularised,  while  religion  was  made  into  an  institution, 
ordinance,  work,  and  achievement  apart  by  itself. 

A  further  outcome  of  Deuteronomy  was,  that  a  dis- 
tinct and  rigorously  exclusive  priesthood  now  appears 
as  the  sole  lawful  ministers  and  stewards  of  the  cultus, 
and  it  was  enacted  that  all  its  members  should  be  de- 
scended from  the  tribe  of  Levi.  In  olden  times  the 
father  of  the  family  offered  up  the  sacrifices  for  himself 
and  household  ;  he  was  the  priest  of  his  house.  To 
be  sure,  larger  sanctuaries  and  professional  priests 
were  already  in  existence,  but  the  people  were  not  re- 
stricted to  them.  Every  house  was  still  a  temple  of 
God,  and  every  head  of  a  family  a  priest  of  the  Most 
High.  Deuteronomy  did  away  with  all  this,  and  so 
first  created  the  distinction  between  clergy  and  laity. 
Man,  as  such,  has  nothing  to  do  directly  with  God, 
but  only  a  privileged  class  of  men  possess  this  pre- 
rogative and  right. 

In  this  way  Deuteronomy  also  radically  transformed 
the  priesthood.  In  ancient  Israel  the  priest  was  pri- 
marily the  minister  of  the  divine  oracle,  the  interpreter 
and  expositor  of  the  Divine  Will.  Deuteronomy  did 
away  with  oracular  predictions  as  heathenish,  and  con- 
verted the  priest  into  a  sacrificer  and  expounder  of  the 
law.  The  character  of  the  sacrifice  also  was  completely 
altered.  The  Israelite  now  only  offered  up  sacrifices 
at  the  three  great  yearly  festivals,  when  he  was  com- 
pelled to  be  in  Jerusalem.  He  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  undertake  a  journey  to  Jerusalem  merely  for 


88  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  sake  of  making  a  thanksgiving  offering.  There 
was,  however,  a  species  of  sacrifice  which  allowed  of 
no  delay, — the  sacrifice  of  sin  and  atonement.  Here, 
in  restoring  man's  broken  relations  with  God,  no  time 
could  be  lost.  Accordingly,  the  sin  and  atonement 
offerings  now  assume  increasing  dominance ;  the  whole 
cultus  becomes  more  and  more  an  institution  for  the 
propitiation  of  sins,  and  the  priest,  the  intermediator 
who  negotiates  the  forgiveness. 

Still  another  consequence  flowed  from  the  ideas  of 
Deuteronomy — the  opposition  of  Church  and  State. 
This  also  Deuteronomy  created.  If  the  whole  of  hu- 
man life  has  in  itself  something  profane,  and  the  reli- 
gious life  is  restricted  to  a  definite  caste,  man  is,  so  to 
speak,  torn  into  two  halves,  each  of  which  lives  its 
own  life.  In  ancient  Israel  man  saw  a  divine  dispen- 
sation in  the  public  and  national  life  ;  love  of  country 
was  a  religious  duty.  The  king  was  the  chief  high 
priest  of  the  people;  all  State  acts  were  sanctified 
through  religion,  and  when  men  fought  for  home  and 
country,  they  fought  for  God  ''the  fight  of  God."  But 
now  all  that  was  changed.  The  State  as  such  had 
nothing  more  to  do  with  the  religious  life,  and  we  even 
see  the  beginnings  in  Deuteronomy  of  that  develop- 
ment which  subsequently  set  the  Church  over  the  State 
and  regarded  the  latter  merely  as  the  handmaid  of  the 
former.  Civil  State  life  became  a  matter  of  ecclesias- 
tical cult.  This,  in  a  sense,  was  providential.  By  the 
separation  of  religion  from  the  State,  the  religion  of 


DEUTERONOMY.  89 

Israel  was  enabled  to  survive  the  destruction  of  the 
Jewish  State  which  followed  thirty-live  years  later. 
But  its  ultimate  consequences  were  direful  beyond 
measure. 

Nor  was  this  all  that  Deuteronomy  did.  It  substi- 
tuted for  the  living  revelation  of  God  in  the  human 
heart  and  in  history,  the  dead  letter.  For  the  first 
time  a  book  was  made  the  foundation  of  religion,  reli- 
gion a  statute,  a  law.  He  who  followed  what  was  writ- 
ten in  this  book  was  religious,  and  he  alone. 

We  see,  thus,  how  an  indubitable  deepening  of  the 
religious  spirit  is  followed  by  a  fixed  externalism,  and 
how  the  prophetic  assumptions  led  to  thoroughly  un- 
prophetic  conclusions.  Deuteronomy  is  an  attempt 
to  realise  the  prophetic  ideas  by  external  means.  This 
naturally  brought  in  its  train  the  externalisation  of 
those  ideas.  In  Deuteronomy  prophecy  gained  a  de- 
cided victory  over  the  national  religion,  but  it  was 
largely  a  Pyrrhic  victory.  Prophecy  abdicated  in  favor 
of  priesthood.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Deuteronomy 
makes  provision  for  the  event  of  a  prophet  appearing 
who  might  teach  doctrines  not  written  in  this  holy 
book,  of  which  the  priests  are  the  natural  guardians 
and  interpreters.  As  in  earlier  times  the  monarchy 
and  prophecy  were  the  two  dominant  powers,  so  now 
priesthood  and  the  law  ruled  supreme. 

But  Deuteronomy  was  productive  of  still  other  re- 
sults. The  opposition  of  secular  and  sacred,  of  laity 
and  clergy,  of  State  and  Church,  the  conception  of  a 


90  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

holy  writ  and  of  a  divine  inspiration,  can  be  traced  back 
in  its  last  roots  to  the  Deuteronomy  of  the  year  621, 
together  with  the  whole  history  of  revealed  religion 
down  to  the  present  time,  including  not  only  Judaism 
but  Christianity  and  Islam,  who  have  simply  borrowed 
these  ideas  from  Judaism. 

By  whom  this  book,  which  is  perhaps  the  most  sig- 
nificant and  most  momentous  that  was  ever  written, 
was  composed,  we  do  not  know.  It  represents  a  com- 
promise between  prophecy  and  priesthood,  and  might 
therefore  have  been  compiled  by  the  priests  of  Jerusa- 
lem, as  indeed  it  was  a  priest  who  delivered  it  to  the 
king,  and  the  priests  who  derived  all  the  benefits  from 
it.  It  may  be  regarded  as  pretty  certain  that  it  took  its 
origin  in  this  period. 

Josiah  regarded  the  demands  of  this  book  with  rev- 
erent awe.  We  are  not  told  whether  his  reforms  were 
opposed  by  the  people,  although  he  carried  them  out 
with  great  severity  and  harshness.  The  final  estab- 
lishment of  regularity  must  have  been  looked  upon  as 
a  blessing,  and  the  more  so  as  Deuteronomy  lays  par- 
ticular stress  on  civil  justice,  establishing  in  this  do- 
main also  stability  and  order.  Moreover,  Josiah  was 
a  man  who  by  his  personal  qualities  was  fitted  to  ren- 
der acceptable  the  oppressive  features  of  the  work,  and 
to  win  for  it  able  partisans. 


JEREMIAH. 


PROPHECY  did  not  experience  at  once  the  disas- 
trous consequences  of  the  priestly  reforms  of  621, 
but  displayed  at  this  period  its  noblest  offshoot  in  Jere- 
miah. It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  Jeremiah  had 
anything  to  do  with  either  the  composition  or  intro- 
duction of  Deuteronomy.  The  rather  elaborate  account 
given  of  the  proceedings  of  this  period  in  the  Book  of 
Kings  makes  no  mention  of  him,  and  the  mental  rela- 
tionship which  some  have  claimed  to  exist  between 
Jeremiah  and  Deuteronomy  is  based  on  passages  of 
this  book  which  did  not  belong  to  the  law-code  of  621, 
but  are  later  than  Jeremiah,  and  the  direct  outcome  of 
his  influence. 

As  the  Kingdom  of  Israel  on  its  downfall  bore  in 
Hosea  its  noblest  prophetic  fruit,  so  in  the  time  imme- 
diately preceding  the  destruction  of  Judah  we  find  the 
sublime  figure  of  Jeremiah.  Mentally,  also,  these  two 
men  were  closely  related.  Sentiment  is  the  predomi- 
nant characteristic  of  each.  Both  have  the  same  ten- 
der and  sympathetic  heart ;  both  have  the  same  elegiac 


92  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

bent  of  mind ;  both  were  pre-eminently  devout  men. 
The  reHgious  element  preponderates  entirely  over  the 
ethical.  It  can  be  proved  that  Jeremiah  was  power- 
fully influenced  by  Hosea,  and  that  he  looked  upon  him 
as  his  prototype. 

We  are  better  informed  concerning  the  life  and  for- 
tunes of  Jeremiah  than  of  any  other  prophet.  He  re- 
ceived his  call  to  the  prophetic  office  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  Josiah's  reign,  namely,  in  627.  He  must  have 
been  at  the  time  very  young,  as  he  hesitated  to  obey 
the  divine  order  on  the  ground  of  his  youth.  We  are 
referred,  therefore,  to  the  later  years  of  the  reign  of 
King  Manasseh,  as  the  period  of  the  prophet's  birth. 
Jeremiah  was  not  a  native  of  Jerusalem  ;  his  home  was 
Anathoth,  a  small  village  near  Jerusalem.  He  came 
of  a  priestly  family,  and  we  get  the  impression  that  he 
did  not  live  in  poor  circumstances.  Solomon  had  ban- 
ished to  his  estate  in  Anathoth,  Abiathar,  the  high- 
priest  of  David,  and  the  last  remaining  heir  of  the  old 
priesthood  of  Shiloh.  The  conjecture  is  not  rash, 
perhaps,  that  Jeremiah  was  a  descendant  of  this  fam- 
ily, which  could  cherish  and  preserve  the  proudest  and 
dearest  recollections  of  Israel  as  its  family  traditions. 
The  family  was  descended  from  Moses.  Abiathar  had 
been  closely  attached  to  David's  person  and  throne; 
he  had  given  the  religious  sanction  to  all  David's 
mighty  deeds,  and  it  was  he  who  helped  to  found  Je- 
rusalem as  also  to  be  the  first  to  worship  there  the  God 
of   Israel.     How  vividly  such  traditions  are  wont  to 


JEREMIAH.  93 

be  fostered  in  fallen  families  is  well  known.  Further 
than  that,  Jeremiah  shows  himself  to  be  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  past  history  of  Israel.  Moses  and 
Samuel,  Amos  and  Hosea, — such  were  the  men  with 
whom  and  in  whom  he  lived.  No  other  prophet  is  so 
steeped  in  the  ancient  literature  and  history  of  Israel. 
Everything  that  was  noble  and  worthy  in  Israel  was 
known  and  familiar  to  him.  We  see  in  this  the  fruits 
of  a  careful  education,  and  can  readily  imagine  how  the 
priestly  father  or  pious  mother  filled  the  impressionable 
heart  of  the  child  with  what  was  most  sacred  to  them. 

Jeremiah  himself  mentions  his  debt  to  his  parents, 
where  God  says  to  him  in  the  vision:  '* Before  thou 
camest  forth  out  of  the  womb  I  sanctified  and  ordained 
thee  a  prophet."  Which  means:  A  person  born  of 
such  parents  must  of  necessity  be  consecrated  to  God. 

And  still  another  circumstance  is  of  utmost  impor- 
tance. Jeremiah  is  the  scion  of  a  martyred  church. 
He  was  born  at  a  time  when  Manasseh  persecuted  the 
prophets  with  fire  and  sword,  and  raged  against  their 
whole  party.  Persecution,  however,  only  serves  to  fan 
religion  into  a  more  intense  flame.  With  what  fervor 
do  men  then  pray  ;  with  what  strength  do  they  believe 
and  confide,  wait  and  hope.  Under  such  circumstances 
was  Jeremiah  born.  Under  such  impressions  he  grew 
up.     Truly,  he  was  a  predestined  personality. 

In  Jeremiah  prophecy  appears  in  a  totally  distinc- 
tive character,  noticeable  even  in  his  first  calling  in 
the  year  627.     God  says  to  Jeremiah:   '^See  I  have 


94  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

this  day  set  thee  over  the  nations  and  over  the  king- 
doms, to  root  out  and  to  pull  down,  to  build  and  to 
plant."  So  thoroughly  does  the  prophet  feel  himself 
one  with  Him  who  sent  him,  and  conceive  his  own  per- 
sonality absorbed  in  God  !  Likewise,  in  one  of  the 
grandest  passages  of  his  book  it  is  he  who  causes  all 
the  nations  to  drink  of  the  wine-cup  of  God's  fury. 
And  thus  the  whole  life  of  the  prophet  is  bound  up  in 
his  calling.  He  must  even  deny  himself  the  joys  of 
matrimony  and  of  home.  Solitary  and  forlorn  he  must 
wander  through  life,  belonging  only  to  God  and  to  his 
vocation. 

It  is  my  duty  to  state,  so  as  not  to  draw  on  myself 
the  charge  of  false  embellishment,  that  this  conscious- 
ness of  absolute  union  with  God  often  assumes  in  Jere- 
miah a  form  which  has  for  us  something  offensive  in  it. 
His  enemies  are  also  God's  enemies,  and  this  other- 
wise tender  and  gentle  man  calls  down  upon  them  the 
heaviest  curses:  <*Pull  them  out  like  sheep  for  the 
slaughter,  and  prepare  them  for  the  day  of  throtthng." 
But  he  is  conscious  himself  that  this  is  something  in- 
congruous. In  one  of  his  most  remarkable  passages, 
where  he  has  broken  out  into  the  direst  imprecations 
and  cursed  himself  and  the  day  of  his  birth,  God  an- 
swers him  :  ''If  thou  becomest  again  mine,  thou  may- 
est  again  be  my  servant,  and  if  thou  freest  thy  better 
self  from  the  vile,  then  shalt  thou  still  be  as  my 
mouth." 

Jeremiah  did  indeed  free  his  better  self  from  the 


JEREMIAH.  95 

vile,  and  such  passing  outbreaks  only  make  him  dearer 
to  us  and  render  him  more  human,  as  showing  us  what 
this  man  inwardly  suffered,  how  he  struggled,  and  un- 
der what  afflictions  his  prophecy  arose.  The  sorrow 
he  bears  is  twofold  :  personal,  in  that  he  preaches  to 
deaf  ears  and  only  reaps  hate  in  return  for  his  love ; 
and  general,  as  a  member  of  his  people.  For  as  the 
prophet  knows  himself  to  be  in  his  vocation  one  with 
God,  so  does  he  know  himself  as  a  man  to  be  one  with 
his  people,  whose  grief  he  bears  with  a  double  bur- 
den, whose  destiny  is  like  to  break  his  heart. 

*'My  bowels,  my  bowels,  I  am  pained  to  my  very 
heart;  my  heart  maketh  a  noise  in  me;  I  cannot  hold 
my  peace,  because  thou  hast  heard,  O  my  soul,  the 
sound  of  the  trumpet,  the  alarm  of  war." 

Thus  he  exclaims  in  one  place,  and  in  another  we 
read  : 

''O  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  my  eyes  a  foun- 
tain of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night  for  the 
slain  of  the  daughter  of  my  people  ! " 

Out  of  this  peculiar  and  twofold  position  of  the 
prophet  between  God  and  his  people  Jeremiah  drew 
the  practical  inference  that  he  was  the  chosen  advo- 
cate and  intercessor  of  the  nation  with  God  ;  in  his 
ardent  prayers  he  fairly  battles  with  God  for  the  sal- 
vation of  his  people.  This  is  a  totally  new  feature. 
The  relation  of  the  former  prophets  to  their  contem- 
poraries was  that  of  mere  preachers  of  punishment 
and  repentance.     Jeremiah,  however,  in  spite  of  their 


96  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

unworthiness,  holds  his  fellow-countrymen  lovingly  in 
his  heart  and  endeavors  to  arrest  the  arm  of  God, 
already  uplifted  to  deal  on  them  the  destructive  blow. 
God  at  last  must  all  but  rebuff  his  unwearying  and  im- 
petuous prophet. 

The  prophetic  preaching  of  Jeremiah  naturally 
often  rests  on  that  of  his  predecessors,  out  of  which  it 
organically  grew.  But  it  is  curious  to  see,  and  this  is 
noticeable  even  in  the  smallest  details,  how  everything 
is  spiritualised  and  deepened  in  Jeremiah,  and  in  a 
certain  measure  transposed  to  a  higher  key.  Often  it 
is  a  mere  descriptive  word,  or  characteristic  expres- 
sion, which  makes  old  thoughts  appear  new,  and 
stamps  them  as  the  mental  property  of  Jeremiah.  I 
must  forego  the  proof  of  this  in  detail,  and  limit  my- 
self in  this  brief  sketch  to  what  is  specifically  new  in 
Jeremiah,  and  to  what  constitutes  his  substantial  im- 
portance and  position  in  the  history  of  Israelitic  proph- 
ecy and  religion. 

Now,  the  specifically  new  in  Jeremiah  touches  di- 
rectly the  kernel  and  substance  of  religion.  Jeremiah 
was  the  first  to  set  religion  consciously  free  from  all 
extraneous  and  material  elements,  and  to  establish  it 
on  a  purely  spiritual  basis.  God  himself  will  destroy 
His  temple  in  Jerusalem,  and  at  the  time  of  the  final 
salvation,  it  shall  not  be  built  up  again,  and  the  Holi- 
est of  Holies,  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  will  not  be 
missed,  and  none  new  made.  What  God  requires  of 
man  is  something  different :  man  shall  break  up  his 


JEREMIAH.  97 

fallow  ground  and  not  sow  among  thorns  ;  he  shall 
circumcise  his  heart.  God  considers  only  the  purity 
of  the  heart,  its  prevalent  disposition;  it  is  he  who 
''tries  the  heart  and  the  reins" — an  expression  origin- 
ally coined  by  Jeremiah,  and  which  we  meet  with  in 
his  book  for  the  first  time.  Truth  and  obedience  are 
good  in  themselves,  as  denoting  a  moral  disposition. 
There  was  a  sect,  the  Rechabites,  who  abstained 
from  drinking  wine.  Jeremiah  knew  well  that  the 
Kingdom  of  God  was  not  eating  and  drinking,  and  that 
the  goodness  and  worth  of  man  in  God's  sight  did  not 
depend  on  whether  he  drank  wine  or  not.  Neverthe- 
less, he  praises  these  Rechabites,  and  holds  them  up 
to  the  people  as  an  example  of  piety  and  faith.  Jere- 
miah indeed  goes  further  than  this.  He  is  the  first  to 
affirm  in  clear  and  plain  words,  that  the  gods  of  the 
heathen  are  not  real  beings,  but  merely  imaginative 
creations  in  the  minds  of  their  worshippers.  Yet  he 
holds  up  to  his  people  the  heathen  who  serve  their  false 
and  meaningless  religion  with  genuine  faith  and  sincere 
devotion,  as  models  and  examples  which  put  them  to 
shame.  They  are  really  more  pleasing  to  God  than  a 
people  who  have  the  true  God,  but  are  unmindful  and 
forgetful  of  Him.  And  this  is  a  sin  for  which  there  is 
no  excuse,  for  the  knowledge  of  God  is  inborn  in  man. 
As  the  bird  of  passage  knoweth  the  time  of  his  depar- 
ture and  the  object  of  his  wandering,  so  is  the  longing 
for  God  born  in  man ;  he  has  only  to  follow  after  that 
yearning  of  his  heart  as  the  animal  after  its  instinct, 


98  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  this  craving  must  lead  him  to  God.  And  this  will 
also  be  in  the  final  time  when  God  concludes  a  new 
covenant  with  Israel :  then  has  every  man  the  law  of 
God  written  in  his  heart ;  he  has  only  to  consult  his 
heart  and  to  follow  after  its  directions.  Now,  if  reli- 
gion, or,  as  Jeremiah  calls  it,  the  knowledge  of  God, 
is  born  in  man,  then  there  is  no  difference  between 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  this  grand  thought  Jeremiah 
first  recognised : 

"  O  Lord,  .  .  .  the  Gentiles  shall  come  unto  thee 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  shall  say,  Our  fathers 
have  inherited  only  lies,  vanity,  and  things  wherein 
there  is  no  profit.  Can  a  man  make  gods  unto  him- 
self, that  are  not  gods?  "  And  when  the  Gentiles  then 
learn  from  converted  Israel  to  worship  the  true  God, 
as  they  themselves  taught  Israel  to  offer  sacrifices  to 
idols,  then  they,  too,  will  enter  into  the  future  king- 
dom of  God. 

The  ideality  and  universality  of  religion — these  are 
the  two  new  grand  apprehensions  which  Jeremiah  has 
given  to  the  world.  Every  man  as  such  is  born  a 
child  of  God.  He  does  not  become  such  through  the 
forms  of  any  definite  religion,  or  outward  organisation, 
but  he  becomes  such  in  his  heart,  through  circumci- 
sion of  the  heart  and  of  the  ears.  A  pure  heart  and  a 
pure  mind  are  all  that  God  requires  of  man,  let  his 
piety  choose  what  form  it  will,  so  long  as  it  is  genuine. 
Thus  we  have  in  Jeremiah  the  purest  and  highest  con- 
summation of  the  prophecy  of  Israel  and  of  the  reli- 


JEREMIAH.  99 

gion  of  the  Old  Testament.  After  him  One  only  could 
come,  who  was  greater  than  he. 

But  we  must  now  pass  on  to  a  consideration  of  the 
life  and  fortunes  of  Jeremiah,  for  in  them  are  reflected 
the  fortunes  of  his  people  and  age. 

In  the  early  days  of  his  vocation  as  a  prophet,  Jere- 
miah seems  to  have  worked  very  quietly.  For  the  first 
five  years,  during  the  occurrence  of  the  extremely  im- 
portant events  enacted  at  Jerusalem  in  connexion  with 
Deuteronomy,  nobody  took  the  slightest  notice  of  him. 
Perhaps  he  was  still  living  in  his  native  village  of 
Anathoth.  We  know  from  his  own  accounts  that  he 
labored  there,  as  also  that  he  was  the  object  of  a  ran- 
corous persecution,  which  aimed  at  his  life.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  it  was  this  that  induced  him  to  settle  in  Je- 
rusalem. 

Of  his  work  during  the  reign  of  Josiah  we  know 
nothing  definite.  Only  one  short  speech  of  the  col- 
lection in  his  book  is  expressly  ascribed  to  this  time. 
In  fact,  we  are  told  nothing  of  Josiah  himself,  after 
the  famous  reform,  except  the  manner  of  his  death. 
The  second  half  of  his  reign  must  have  been  on  the 
whole  happy  and  propitious  for  Judah.  The  Scythian 
storm  had  raged  across  it  without  causing  much  se- 
vere damage.  The  power  of  Assyria  was  smitten  and 
had  entirely  disappeared  in  the  outlying  regions.  Jo- 
siah could  rule  over  Israel  as  if  it  were  his  own  land, 
and  in  a  measure  restore  the  kingdom  of  David. 

But  events  pursued  their  uninterruptible  course. 


loo  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

In  the  year  608  Nineveh  was  surrounded  by  the  allied 
Medes  and  Chaldeans,  and  its  fall  was  only  a  question 
of  time.  The  Egyptian  Pharaoh  Necho  held  this  to 
be  a  fitting  opportunity  to  secure  for  himself  his  por- 
tion of  the  heritage  of  Assyria.  He  set  forth  with  a 
huge  army  from  the  Nile,  to  occupy  on  behalf  of  the 
Egyptian  kingdom  the  whole  country  up  to  the 
Euphrates.  What  moved  Josiah  to  oppose  him  we 
do  not  know.  A  disastrous  engagement  took  place  at 
Megiddo,  where  Josiah  was  completely  defeated  and 
mortally  wounded.  This  was  for  the  religious  party 
in  Israel  a  terrible  blow.  Josiah,  the  first  king  pleas- 
ing to  God,  had  met  a  dreadful  end.  He  had  served 
God  faithfully  and  honestly,  and  now  God  had  aban- 
doned him.  Could  not  some  mistake  have  been  made 
as  to  God's  power,  or  as  to  His  justice?  And  indeed 
after  this  event  a  change  does  really  seem  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  religious  views. 

Jehoiakim,  Josiah's  eldest  son,  who  nov/  ruled  as 
an  Egyptian  vassal,  was  not  a  man  after  the  heart  of  the 
prophet ;  in  him  Manasseh  lived  anew.  He  also  per- 
secuted the  prophets.  He  ordered  one  of  them  named 
Urijah  to  be  executed,  and  Jeremiah  himself  was  in 
constant  danger  of  losing  his  life.  Whether  the  re- 
form of  the  cultus  ordered  by  Josiah  was  revoked,  we 
do  not  know ;  in  any  event  Jekoiakim  took  no  interest 
in  it,  and  in  no  wise  supported  it.  Under  him  the 
temporal  arm  of  the  church  was  not  available.  And 
now,  just  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  Jeremiah  ap- 


JEREMTAH.  loi 

pears  with  the  awful  prophecy,  at  that  time  doubly 
monstrous  and  blasphemous,  that  temple  and  city 
would  both  be  destroyed  if  a  radical  improvement  and 
thorough  conversion  did  not  take  place.  Violent  scenes 
arose  in  the  temple;  the  death  of  the  obnoxious  prophet 
was  clamorously  called  for.  He  was  saved  only  with 
difficulty,  and  it  seems  was  forbidden  to  enter  the  tem- 
ple and  to  preach  there. 

In  the  year  606  Nineveh  fell  after  a  three  years' 
siege,  and  thus  disappeared  the  kingdom  and  nation 
of  the  Assyrians  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  The 
Medes  and  Chaldeans  divided  the  spoils  among  them. 
Now,  however,  they  had  another  task  on  their  hands. 
A  third  competitor  was  to  be  driven  out  of  the  field. 
Pharaoh  Necho  had  actually  occupied  the  whole  coun- 
try up  to  the  Euphrates.  Accordingly,  in  605,  a  year 
after  the  fall  of  Nineveh,  the  Babylonian  Nebuchad- 
nezzar marched  against  him.  The  battle  took  place 
at  Carchemish  and  Necho  was  totally  defeated.  The 
Egyptian  hosts  rolled  back  in  wild  flight  to  their  homes 
and  the  whole  country  as  far  as  the  confines  of  Egypt 
fell  into  Nebuchadnezzar^s  hands. 

In  this  critical  year,  605,  Jeremiah  received  God's 
command  to  write  down  in  a  book  all  the  words  which 
he  had  hitherto  spoken,  and  at  the  end  of  the  book  we 
find  the  vision  of  the  cup  of  wrath,  which  the  prophet 
was  to  cause  all  nations  and  peoples  to  drink,  for  now 
through  the  Chaldeans  God's  judgment  is  fulfilled  over 
the  whole  earth.     Jehoiakim  felt  the  seriousness  of 


102  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  situation.  A  general  fast  was  ordered,  and  seizing 
the  occasion  Jeremiah  caused  his  young  friend  and 
pupil  Baruch  to  read  his  book  of  prophecies  aloud  in 
the  temple.  The  King  heard  of  it,  ordered  the  book 
to  be  read  to  him,  had  it  cut  into  pieces  and  cast  into 
the  fire.  He  ordered  the  arrest  of  Jeremiah  and  Ba- 
ruch, but  they  managed  to  keep  out  of  the  way. 

Thus  Jehoiakim  was  converted  from  an  Assyrian 
into  a  Babylonian  vassal ;  and  Jeremiah  incessantly 
urged  upon  him  the  necessity  of  bending  his  neck  to 
the  yoke  of  the  King  of  Babel.  For  Nebuchadnezzar 
was  the  servant,  the  chosen  weapon  of  God,  appointed 
by  Him  to  rule  over  the  earth.  Natural  prudence  and 
insight  alone  would  have  recommended  this  policy  as 
the  only  right  and  possible  one ;  for  by  it  relative  quiet 
and  peace  were  assured  to  the  nation.  But  Jehoiakim 
did  not  think  so.  He  arose  against  the  King  of  Babel, 
and  a  storm  now  brewed  around  Jerusalem.  Jehoiakim 
himself  did  not  survive  the  catastrophe,  but  his  son 
Jehoiachin  was  compelled  to  surrender  unconditionally 
to  the  Babylonians.  Nebuchadnezzar  led  the  king 
captive  to  Babylon,  where  he  was  kept  in  close  bond- 
age, together  with  ten  thousand  of  his  people,  the 
entire  aristocracy  of  birth  and  intellect ;  nothing  re- 
mained but  the  lower  classes.  He  set  the  third  son 
of  Josiah,  Zedekiah,  as  vassal  king  over  this  decimated 
and  enfeebled  people. 

All  this  happened  in  the  year  597. 

Better  days  now  began  for  Jeremiah.     Zedekiah 


JEREMIAH.  103 

resembled  his  father  Josiah  ;  he  evidently  held  the 
prophet  in  high  esteem,  and  seemed  not  indisposed  to 
be  guided  by  him.  But  he  had  to  reckon  here  with 
the  wishes  of  the  people  and  with  public  opinion,  and 
they  tended  the  other  way.  The  sadder  the  situation 
and  the  more  dangerous  the  circumstances  became, 
the  higher  flared  the  fanaticism,  which  was  fanned 
into  a  flame  by  other  prophets.  Here  we  encounter 
those  biassed  and  undiscriminating  disciples  of  Isaiah, 
who,  with  their  boasts  of  the  indestructibility  of  Jeru- 
salem and  the  temple,  were  never  weary  of  assuring 
the  people  of  divine  protection,  and  of  urging  them  to 
shake  off  the  detested  yoke  of  the  Gentiles. 

In  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Zedekiah  a  pow- 
erful and  widespread  agitation  seems  to  have  broken 
out.  Ambassadors  from  all  the  smaller  nations  and 
peoples  round  about  gathered  in  Jerusalem  to  plan 
some  scheme  of  concerted  action  against  Nebuchad- 
nezzar. Jeremiah  appears  in  their  midst  with  a  yoke 
around  his  neck.  It  is  the  will  of  God  that  all  the  na- 
tions should  bow  their  necks  beneath  the  yoke  of  Neb- 
uchadnezzar, lest  a  heavier  judgment  should  fall  upon 
them.  One  of  the  false  prophets,  Hananiah,  took  the 
yoke  from  off  the  neck  of  Jeremiah  and  broke  it,  say- 
ing :  ''  Even  so  will  the  Lord  break  the  yoke  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar king  of  Babylon  from  the  neck  of  all  the 
nations  within  the  space  of  two  full  years."  Then  said 
Jeremiah  to  him:  '*Thou  hast  broken  the  yokes  of 
wood;  but  in  their  stead  shall  come  yokes  of  iron." 


104  '^HE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

It  was  predicted  Hananiah  should  die  in  that  year,  for 
having  prophesied  falsely  in  the  name  of  God.  And 
Hananiah  died  in  the  seventh  month.  Finally,  noth- 
ing definite  came  of  the  deliberations,  and  the  nations 
remained  quiet.  But  even  the  exiles  in  Babylon,  who 
were  also  greatly  excited  and  stirred  up  by  false  proph- 
ets, had  to  be  warned  by  Jeremiah  to  peace  and  resig- 
nation in  the  will  of  God.  He  did  this  in  a  letter, 
which  must  have  been  written  at  the  same  time  with 
the  events  above-mentioned. 

Of  the  next  five  years  we  know  nothing.  But  ad- 
versity takes  rapid  strides,  and  now  the  destiny  of 
Jerusalem  was  about  to  be  fulfilled.  Confiding  in  the 
help  of  Eg3^pt,  Zedekiah  rebelled  against  his  suzerain 
and  for  a  second  time  the  Babylonian  armies  marched 
against  Jerusalem.  Zedekiah  sent  to  consult  the 
prophet  as  to  the  future.  Jeremiah  remained  firm  in 
his  opinion — subjection  to  the  King  of  Babylon.  Who- 
soever shall  go  forth  against  the  Chaldeans  shall  not 
escape  out  of  their  hands,  and  whosoever  shall  re- 
main in  the  city  shall  die  through  the  sword,  hunger, 
and  pestilence,  but  the  city  shall  be  consumed  with 
fire.  The  people  did  not  listen  to  him  ;  passion  had 
blinded  and  rendered  them  foolish.  The  siege  began. 
The  Egyptians,  however,  kept  their  promise.  Egyp- 
tian troops  poured  in,  and  Nebuchadnezzar  raised  the 
siege. 

The  joy  in  Jerusalem  knew  no  bounds.  But  un- 
fortunately these  days  of  rejoicing  and  confidence  were 


JEREMIAH,  105 

darkened  by  a  disgraceful  breach  of  faith.  The  neces- 
sities of  the  siege  had  suggested  the  revival  of  an  an- 
cient custom,  by  which  the  Hebrew  slaves  were  set  free 
after  six  years'  service.  To  obtain  warriors  willing  to 
fight  during  the  siege,  the  Hebrew  slaves  had  been 
solemnly  liberated,  but  now  that  all  danger  was  over, 
they  were  compelled  to  return  to  servitude.  The  en- 
raged prophet  hurled  his  most  terrible  words  at  the 
heads  of  this  faithless  and  perjured  people,  but  in  so 
doing  he  made  enemies  among  the  ruling  classes,  who, 
as  he  was  about  to  set  forth  to  his  birthplace  Anathoth, 
caused  him  to  be  arrested,  on  the  pretence  that  he  in- 
tended to  go  over  to  the  Chaldeans;  he  was  beaten 
and  put  into  prison.  But  his  prophecy  was  right.  The 
Chaldeans  returned,  and  the  siege  began  anew.  That 
was  for  Jeremiah  a  time  of  alHiction.  Hated,  ill-treated, 
persecuted  by  all  as  a  betrayer  of  his  country,  he  passed 
several  weeks  and  months  of  unutterable  misery.  To 
the  energetic  mediation  of  King  Zedekiah  he  owed 
his  life. 

We  can  now  understand,  perhaps,  the  moods  which 
caused  him  to  curse  his  birth  and  to  murmur  against 
God,  who  had  only  suffered  him  to  be  born  for  misery 
and  wretchedness,  hatred  and  enmity. 

But  soon  the  fate  of  Jerusalem  was  fulfilled.  After 
being  defended  with  the  wild  courage  of  despair,  it 
was  finally  captured  on  the  ninth  of  July,  586.  This 
time  Nebuchadnezzar  showed  no  mercy.  Zedekiah 
had  his  eyes  put  out  and  was  carried  in  chains  to  Baby- 


io6  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

Ion,  after  all  his  children  had  been  murdered  in  his 
sight.  The  city  and  temple  were  plundered,  burnt 
with  fire,  and  utterly  destroyed,  and  almost  the  entire 
population  carried  away  captive  into  Babylon.  Only 
a  few  of  the  poor  of  the  land  were  left  behind  for  vine- 
dressers and  for  husbandmen.  As  Babylonian  viceroy 
over  this  miserable  remnant,  with  a  residence  in  Miz- 
pah,  was  appointed  Gedaliah,  a  grandson  of  Shaphan, 
the  scribe  who  had  delivered  Deuteronomy  to  King 
Josiah. 

Jeremiah,  who  had  survived  all  the  terrors  and  suf- 
ferings of  the  siege  and  capture,  and  whom  the  Chal- 
deans had  left  in  Judah,  remained  with  Gedaliah, 
whose  father,  Ahikam  had  been  a  warm  friend  and 
supporter  of  the  prophet.  And  now  that  his  prophecies 
soared  to  their  sublimest  heights  and  he  had  just  pre- 
dicted on  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  temple, 
God's  everlasting  covenant  of  grace  with  Israel,  he 
would,  perhaps,  have  still  enjoyed  a  successful  activ- 
ity, had  not  a  band  of  fanatics  with  a  prince  of  the 
royal  blood  at  their  head,  treacherously  attacked  and 
slain  Gedaliah  and  such  Chaldeans  as  were  with  him. 
Jeremiah  still  counselled  quiet.  Nebuchadnezzar 
would  not  visit  the  crime  of  a  few  on  the  whole  nation. 
But  the  people  would  not  trust  him ;  they  arose  and 
went  into  Egypt  and  forced  the  aged  prophet  to  ac- 
company them. 

In  Egypt  the  prophet  closed  a  life  full  of  suffering. 
Bitter  contentions  arose  with  his  countrymen.     Jere- 


JEREMIAH.  107 

miah  still  fearlessly  discharged  his  office  as  incarnate 
conscience  of  his  people,  and  was,  according  to  a  Jew- 
ish tradition,  stoned  to  death  by  an  infuriated  mob. 

Thus,  breathed  out  his  great  soul  Jeremiah,  solitary 
and  alone  on  Egyptian  soil  under  the  blows  of  his  own 
people,  for  whom  during  his  whole  lifetime  he  had 
striven  and  suffered,  and  from  whom,  for  all  his  love 
and  faith,  he  had  but  reaped  hatred  and  persecution. 
Truly  he  drank  the  cup  of  suffering  to  its  dregs.  But 
undismayed  and  dauntless,  he  fell  in  his  harness,  a 
true  soldier  of  the  truth.  He  had  become  as  an  iron 
wall,  and  as  pillars  of  brass  against  the  whole  land. 
They  had  struggled  against  him,  but  not  overcome 
him.  He  fell  as  a  hero,  as  a  conqueror  ;  he  could  die 
for  the  truth,  he  could  not  abjure  it. 

Jerusalem  destroyed,  its  greatest  son  buried  in  the 
sands  of  Egypt,  the  people  dragged  as  captives  into 
Babylon — what  was  now  to  become  of  Israel?  Here 
was  the  opportunity  for  Deuteronomy  to  prove  itself 
true,  and  it  did  prove  so.  It  saved  Israel  and  religion. 
And  to  this  end  prophecy  also  helped  much.  If  the 
songs  of  the  Lord  were  silent  in  a  strange  land,  and 
Israel  weeping  hung  her  harps  on  the  willows  by  the 
waters  of  Babylon — yet  prophecy  was  not  silent.  It 
found  during  the  exile  in  Babylon  two  of  its  truest 
and  spiritually  most  powerful  exponents. 


THE  BABYLONIAN  EXILE. 


'T^HE  Assyrians  wejre  the  first  people  to  make  use  of 
^  the  exile  as  a  means  of  pacifying  rebellious  tribes. 
Whenever  they  chanced  to  come  upon  an  especially 
hardy  nationality,  which  offered  determined  opposi- 
tion in  its  struggle  for  existence  and  was  not  willing  to 
be  swept  away  without  resistance  by  the  advancing 
avalanche,  the  entire  nation  was  expelled  from  its  land 
and  dragged  into  the  heart  of  the  Assyrian  empire, 
either  directly  into  Assyria  itself,  or  into  regions  which 
had  been  denationalised  for  generations  and  already 
been  made  Assyrian,  whilst  the  depopulated  country 
itself  was  filled  with  Assyrian  colonists.  The  Assyrians 
had  already  noticed  that  the  strong  roots  of  the  power 
of  an  individual  as  well  as  of  a  nation  lie  in  its  native 
soil.  Home  and  country  mutually  determine  each 
other  and  form  an  inseparable  union.  In  those  days 
they  did  so  more  than  now,  for  then  religion  also  was 
an  integral  part  of  the  nation,  and  religion,  too,  was 
indissolubly  associated  with  the  soil.  A  nation's  coun- 
try was  the  home  and  dwelling-place  of  its  national 


THE  BAB  YL  ONI  AN  EXILE.  1 09 

Deity  ;  to  be  torn  away  from  one's  native  soil  was  equi- 
valent to  being  torn  away  from  Him,  and  thus  was  de- 
stroyed the  strongest  bond  and  the  deepest  source  of 
nationality. 

The  object  of  the  transportation  was  attained.  Such 
members  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel  as  were  carried 
away  in  the  year  722  have  disappeared  without  a 
trace,  and  if  that  branch  of  the  Semites  commonly 
known  as  the  Aramaic  has  never  exhibited  a  distinct 
ethnographical  type  in  history,  the  fact  may  be  ascribed 
to  the  five  hundred  years'  dominion  of  the  Assyrians 
in  those  regions,  who  from  the  earliest  times  systemati- 
cally eradicated  the  national  features  of  conquered 
countries. 

In  their  national  sentiments  Irael  did  not  differ 
from  the  other  nations  of  antiquity.  Every  country 
except  Palestine  was  unclean,  and  to  hold  there  the 
service  of  God  was  impossible.  For  a  man  like  the 
prophet  Hosea,  who  did  not  suffer  himself  to  be  gov- 
erned by  prejudices,  or  allow  his  better  judgment  to 
be  impaired,  it  was  quite  a  matter  of  course  that  as 
soon  as  the  people  left  the  soil  of  Palestine,  all  service 
of  God  should  cease  of  itself,  and  this  for  him  is  one  of 
the  deepest  terrors  of  the  threatened  exile.     He  said  : 

''They  shall  not  dwell  in  the  Lord's  land,  but 
Ephraim  shall  return  to  Egypt  and  eat  unclean  things 
in  Assyria.  They  shall  not  pour  out  wine-offerings  to 
the  Lord,  neither  shall  they  prepare  burnt-offerings  for 
Him  ;  their  bread  shall  be  unto  them  as  the  bread  of 


no  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

mourners ;  all  that  eat  thereof  shall  be  polluted  :  for 
their  bread  shall  be  for  their  appetite  ;  it  shall  not 
come  into  the  house  of  the  Lord.  What  will  ye  do 
in  the  solemn  day  and  in  the  day  of  the  feast  of  the 
Lord?" 

Such  also  was  the  thought  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  later,  when  Judah  was  carried  into  exile.  The 
Babylonian  government  would  have  had  no  objection 
to  the  exiles  building  for  themselves  the  altars  and 
temples  of  their  God  in  Mesopotamia — but  it  never 
entered  the  heads  of  the  Jews  to  build  a  temple  to  God 
on  the  Euphrates,  after  that  His  own  house  on  Mount 
Zion  had  been  destroyed.  Even  the  most  religious 
man  would  have  seen  in  this  an  insult,  a  mockery  of  the 
God  of  Israel :  better  not  sacrifice  at  all  than  unclean 
things  on  unclean  ground.  And  this  condition  of  things 
was  to  last  a  long  time.  Jeremiah  had  distinctly 
named  seventy  years  as  the  period  during  which  God 
would  grant  dominion  to  the  Chaldeans,  and  had  re- 
peatedly and  urgently  warned  the  exiles  to  make  ar- 
rangements for  a  long  sojourn  in  the  strange  land. 
How,  now,  did  Israel  pass  this  period  of  probation  ? 

The  consequences  of  the  Babylonian  exile  have 
been  momentous  in  every  way;  the  exile  in  Babylon 
quite  transformed  Israel  and  its  religion  ;  it  created 
what  is  known  in  religious  history  as  Judaism,  in  con- 
tradistinction to  Israelitism.  To  have  been  the  first  to 
clearly  recognise  that  the  Judaism  of  post-exilic  times, 
although  the  organic  outcome  of  the  Israelitism  of  the 


THE  BAB  YL  ON  IAN  EXILE,  1 1 1 

exilic  period,  was  yet  something  totally  new  and  spe- 
cifically different  from  it,  is  the  great  and  imperishable 
service  of  De  Wette,  who  was  indeed  the  first  to  gain 
any  understanding  at  all  of  the  religious  history  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  its  real  significance  and  tendencies. 
That  the  exile  into  Babylon  exercised  this  stupendous 
transformative  influence,  was  the  natural  result  of  the 
circumstances  and  of  the  logic  of  facts. 

A  later  writer  of  the  Old  Testament,  whose  name 
and  period  are  unknown  to  us,  he  who  gave  to  the 
Book  of  Amos  the  conciliatory  conclusion  already  men- 
tioned, compares  the  Babylonian  captivity  to  a  sieve, 
in  which  the  house  of  Israel  is  sifted,  through  which  all 
the  chaff  and  dust  passes,  but  not  the  least  grain  falls 
to  the  earth.  This  comparison  is  excellent  and  char- 
acterises the  situation  with  a  distinctness  and  sharpness 
that  could  not  be  improved  upon. 

The  Babylonian  exile  did  indeed  bring  about  a  sepa- 
ration of  the  religious  from  the  irreligious  section  of 
the  people,  of  the  followers  of  the  prophetic  religion 
from  the  followers  of  the  ancient  popular  religion.  In 
the  fall  of  Judah  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and 
the  temple,  the  prophetic  religion  won  a  complete 
victory  over  the  old  religion  of  the  people,  and  the 
latter  lost  every  possibility  of  further  existence.  The 
ancient  Deity  of  the  nation  vanished  in  the  smoke 
sent  up  by  the  conflagration  of  the  temple  of  Solomon. 
He  was  vanquished  and  destroyed  by  the  gods  of  Ne- 
buchadnezzar.    His  want  of  power  had  been  plainly 


1 1 2  THE  PR  OPHE  TS  OF  I  SR  A  EL. 

proved  by  the  destruction  of  His  people  and  of  His 
house,  and  He  himself  lay  buried  beneath  their  ruins. 

The  moral  influence  of  the  Babylonian  captivity 
and  its  attendant  features  must  also  be  taken  into  ac- 
count. Bowed  down  by  the  dread  blows  of  fate,  all 
confidence  lost  in  themselves  and  their  God,  the  Jews 
came,  a  despised  and  oppressed  remnant,  to  Babylon, 
which  was  at  that  time  in  the  zenith  of  its  power  and 
magnificence.  What  an  overwhelming  effect  must  the 
undreamt-of  grandeur  of  their  new  surroundings  have 
made  upon  them  !  Their  once  so  loved  and  admired 
Jerusalem,  how  poor  it  must  have  appeared  to  them 
when  compared  with  the  metropolis  of  Babylon  with 
its  gigantic  buildings,  its  art,  its  luxury !  The  temple 
of  Solomon,  at  one  time  their  pride  and  glory,  was  it 
not  but  a  miserable  village-church  when  likened  to  the 
wondrous  edifice  raised  to  the  worship  of  the  Baby- 
lonian God  !  As  the  great  unknown  writer  towards 
the  end  of  the  captivity  expresses  it,  Israel  was  here 
but  a  worm  and  Jacob  a  maggot.  How  irresistible 
the  temptation  must  have  been  :  "Away  with  the  old 
trash,  let  us  bow  down  and  acknowledge  this  new  and 
powerful  deity  !  " 

Moreover,  it  was  a  decided  personal  advantage  for 
a  Jew  to  renounce  his  nationality  and  to  become 
a  Babylonian.  We  have  in  the  literary  productions  of 
the  time  woful  complaints  concerning  the  brutal  mock- 
ery and  heartless  derision  to  which  the  poor  Jews  were 
subjected  in  exile,  nay  more,  they  were  subject  to  ill- 


THE  BAB  YL  ON  IAN  EXILE.  1 1 3 

treatment  and  personal  violence.  An  extraordinary 
strength  of  character  was  necessary  to  remain  stead- 
fast and  true ;  only  really  earnest  and  convinced  reli- 
gious natures  could  resist  such  temptations.  And  thus 
the  natural  consequences  of  the  conditions  were  that 
the  half-hearted  and  lukewarm,  the  weak  and  those 
wanting  in  character,  the  worldly-minded,  who  thought 
only  of  personal  advantage  and  honor,  broke  away, 
and  that  a  refining  process  took  place  within  Israel 
which  left  nothing  remaining  but  the  sacred  remnant 
hoped  for  by  Isaiah.  Even  on  this  remnant,  which 
was  really  composed  of  the  best  and  the  noblest  ele- 
ments of  the  people,  the  Babylonian  captivity  had  a 
profound  effect.  The  religion  of  Israel,  in  fact,  was 
destined  to  undergo  a  deep  change. 

Deuteronomy  had  already  effected  a  separation  be- 
tween the  State  and  the  Church,  between  the  national 
and  the  religious  life.  Of  course,  at  the  outset  the  re- 
form had  to  reckon  with  these  as  concrete  powers  and 
weighty  factors,  but  it  is  evident  they  stood  in  its  way 
and  formed  serious  obstacles  to  the  realisation  of  its 
final  aims,  which  were  of  a  purely  ecclesiastical  char- 
acter. But  now  destiny  had  removed  these  hindrances. 
The  State  was  destroyed,  the  national  life  extirpated, 
nothing  but  the  ecclesiastical  element  remained.  The 
hard  logic  of  facts  itself  had  drawn  the  conclusions  of 
Deuteronomy,  and  afforded  them  the  freest  play  for 
their  growth  and  operation.  Judah  as  a  nation  was 
destroyed  by  the  Babylonian  captivity  as  completely  as 


114  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

Israel  was  by  the  Assyrian,  but  it  was  transformed 
into  Judaism.  The  State  became  a  Church  ;  a  nation 
was  converted  into  a  congregation.  And  this  Judah, 
which  had  now  become  Judaism,  had  a  world-wide 
mission  to  fulfil  which  was  without  parallel.  The  fu- 
ture and  entire  further  development  of  religion  de- 
pended upon  it. 

The  first  person  who  clearly  recognised  the  situa- 
tion of  the  Jews  in  the  Babylonian  captivity  and  sought 
to  adapt  the  exiles  to  the  change  of  conditions  was 
Ezekiel,  the  son  of  Buzi.  The  significance  and  in- 
fluence of  this  man  cannot  be  rated  too  highly.  He 
took  the  initiative  step  in  the  entire  development  which 
followed,  and  gave  to  it  its  theological  foundations. 

Ezekiel  may  be  justly  styled  a  theologian ;  he  is 
the  first  dogmatist  of  the  Old  Testament. 


EZEKIEL. 


T^ZEKIEL,  was  the  son  of  a  priest  of  the  temple  of 
^-^  Jerusalem,  and  had  been  carried  off  to  Babylon 
with  the  first  captives,  under  Jehoiachin,  in  the  year  597. 
Five  years  later,  592,  he  appeared  as  prophet.  His 
work  lasted  for  twenty-two  years,  but  we  know  nothing 
of  its  details.  He  was  at  first  a  mere  herald  of  the  judg- 
ment ;  the  approaching  complete  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem was  his  only  theme.  But  his  companions  in 
misery  refused  to  listen  to  him.  National  fanaticism, 
blind  confidence  in  God,  who  in  the  end  must  perforce 
aid  both  His  people  and  His  temple,  had  seized  pos- 
session of  their  hearts.  Derided  and  maligned,  the 
prophet  was  forced  to  be  silent,  till  the  fulfilment  of 
his  threat  by  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  loosed  the 
seal  from  his  mouth  and  from  the  ears  and  hearts  of 
his  people. 

The  Book  of  Ezekiel  is  the  most  voluminous  of  all 
the  prophetic  literature,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  give  in  a 
few  brief  strokes  a  sketch  of  the  man  and  of  his  impor- 
tance, but  I  will  try  to  emphasise  at  least  the  main 
points. 


1 1 6  THE  PR  OPHE  TS  OF  I  SR  A  EL . 

Personality  is  the  characteristic  of  Ezekiel.  Eze- 
kiel  was  a  man  of  a  thoroughly  practical  nature  with  a 
wonderfully  sharp  perception  of  the  problems  and  needs 
of  his  age  ;  he  understood  how  to  read  the  signs  of  the 
times  and  to  deduce  the  right  lessons  from  them.  In 
this  respect  he  bears  a  most  wonderful  resemblance  to 
Isaiah,  with  whom  he  has  also  a  marked  relationship 
of  character.  The  key-note  in  the  character  of  both  is 
the  immeasurable  distance  between  God  and  man. 
In  the  image  of  God  the  predominant  and  decisive 
feature  is  His  sanctity  and  majesty,  His  absolutely 
supramundane  elevation  in  ethical  and  metaphysical 
matters,  the  consequence  being  that  humility  is  the 
cardinal  virtue  of  man.  When  confronting  his  God, 
Ezekiel  feels  himself  to  be  only  the  '^son  of  man." 
When  thought  worthy  of  a  divine  revelation,  he  falls 
on  his  face  to  the  ground,  and  it  is  God  who  raises 
him  up  and  sets  him  on  his  feet.  He  has,  in  common 
with  Isaiah,  the  same  terrible  moral  earnestness,  a 
certain  vein  of  severity  and  harshness,  which  does  not 
suffer  the  tenderer  tones  of  the  heart  to  come  into  full 
play. 

One  of  the  most  learned  theologians  of  the  present 
day  has  compared  this  prophet  to  Gregory  VII.  and 
Calvin,  in  both  of  whom  personal  amiability  and  sym- 
pathy are  wanting,  but  who  excite  our  unbounded  ad- 
miration as  men  and  characters  by  the  iron  consistency 
of  their  thought  and  the  hard  energy  of  their  actions. 
There  is  much  that  is  true  and  befitting  in  this  com- 


EZEKIEL.  117 

parison.  Ezekiel — if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expres- 
sion— is  pre-eminently  churchman  and  organiser ;  as 
such,  the  greatest  that  Israel  ever  had.  He  has  left, 
in  this  respect,  the  imprint  of  his  mind  on  all  future 
ages,  and  marked  out  for  them  the  path  of  develop- 
ment. 

As  Isaiah  transformed  into  practice  the  ideas  of 
Amos  and  Hosea,  so  Ezekiel  is  thoroughly  dependent 
on  his  great  predecessor  Jeremiah.  He  drew  the  con- 
clusions from  the  religious  subjectivism  and  individ- 
ualism of  Jeremiah,  and  bestowed  upon  them  the  cor- 
rective which  they  urgently  needed. 

I  will  now  endeavor  to  group  together  and  to  char- 
acterise the  leading  thoughts  of  Ezekiel  in  their  most 
important  aspects.  The  first  thing  Ezekiel  is  called 
upon  to  do  is  to  vindicate  God,  even  as  against  his 
most  pious  contemporaries. 

*'The  way  of  the  Lord  is  the  wrong  way,"  was  a 
remark  that  Ezekiel  must  have  repeatedly  heard.  And 
such  views  were  not  urged  without  a  certain  amount 
of  justification.  Were  the  people  and  the  period  just 
previous  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  so  especially 
wicked  and  godless?  Had  not  King  Josiah  done 
everything  to  fulfil  the  demands  of  God?  Yet  this 
righteous  king  was  made  to  suffer  a  horrible  death, 
and  misfortune  on  misfortune  was  heaped  upon  Judah. 
The  proverb  arose:  "Our  fathers  have  eaten  sour 
grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge." 
This  conception  appears  in  a  still  more  drastic  form  in 


lr8  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

a  remarkable  passage  of  the  Book  of  Jeremiah,  where 
the  answer  is  hurled  at  the  head  of  the  prophet,  who 
is  warning  and  exhorting  his  people:  ''When  our 
fathers  worshipped  Baal  and  the  stars,  things  went 
well  with  us,  but  since  Josiah  served  the  Lord  only, 
things  have  gone  ill."  In  opposition  to  such  views, 
Ezekiel  had  now  to  bring  forward  proof  that  the  judg- 
ment was  deserved  and  unavoidable. 

To  this  end,  he  passes  in  review  the  entire  past 
of  the  people,  and  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  it  had 
been  one  long  chain  of  direst  ingratitude  and  shocking 
sin.  Jerusalem  is  much  worse  than  Samaria,  has  acted 
more  sinfully  than  the  Gentiles ;  even  Sodom  is  justi- 
fied by  the  iniquity  of  Jerusalem.  Jerusalem  is  as  a 
rusty  pot,  whose  filthiness  cannot  be  removed  by  being 
burnt  out,  but  which  must  be  thrown  into  the  furnace, 
so  that  its  metal  may  be  purged  and  rendered  fit  for 
a  new  cast. 

This  appears  heartless  and  is  at  times  stated  by 
Ezekiel  with  offensive  severity.  But  to  break  up 
the  new  land  required  by  Hosea  and  Jeremiah,  the 
thorns  and  weeds  must  first  be  pitilessly  dug  out,  and 
the  earth  upturned  to  its  very  depths  by  the  plough- 
shares. Nothing  else  is  Ezekiel's  intention.  By  this 
painful  process  the  ground  is  simply  to  be  loosened 
for  the  new  seed,  for  God  takes  no  pleasure  in  the 
death  of  a  sinner,  but  wishes  rather  that  he  be  con- 
verted and  live.  And  this  conversion  is  quite  pos- 
sible ;  for  the  relation  of  God  to  man  adjusts  itself 


EZEKIEL.  119 

according  to  the  relation  of  man  to  God.  Now,  here 
is  the  point  where  Ezekiel's  creative  genius  is  dis- 
played. If  religious  personality  be  the  true  subject  of 
religion,  the  inestimable  value  of  every  individual  hu- 
man soul  follows  directly  from  this  fact.  Here  it  is 
that  the  lever  must  be  applied,  and  in  Ezekiel  thus 
prophecy  is  transformed  into  the  pastoral  care  of  souls. 

The  idea  of  pastoral  care,  and  the  recognition  of  it 
as  a  duty,  is  first  found  in  Ezekiel.  Even  the  Messiah 
does  not  appear  to  him  in  the  pomp  of  a  royal  ruler, 
but  as  the  good  shepherd,  who  seeks  him  that  is  lost, 
goes  after  him  that  has  strayed,  binds  up  the  wounded, 
and  visits  the  sick  and  afflicted.  Ezekiel  considers 
this  pastoral  and  educating  office  to  be  his  vocation  as 
prophet,  and  has  conceived  it  with  the  sacred  earnest- 
ness peculiar  to  himself :  he  feels  himself  to  be  per- 
sonally responsible  for  the  soul  of  every  one  of  his 
fellow-countrymen  :  **  If  the  wicked  man  sin,  and  thou 
givest  him  not  warning,  to  save  his  life,  the  same 
wicked  man  shall  die  in  his  iniquity;  but  his  blood  will 
I  require  at  thy  hand.  Yet  if  thou  warn  the  wicked, 
and  he  turn  not  from  his  wickedness,  nor  from  his 
wicked  way,  he  shall  die  in  his  iniquity;  but  thou  hast 
delivered  thy  soul."  With  these  words  God  makes 
Ezekiel  a  prophet,  or,  as  he  has  vividly  expressed  it, 
a  ** watchman  over  the  house  of  Israel." 

Such  was  the  practical  conclusion  which  Ezekiel 
drew  from  Jeremiah's  religious  conceptions,  and  by 
which  he  introduced  into  the  religio-historical  devel- 


120  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

opment  of  the  world  an  entirely  new  force  of  imperish- 
able importance  and  of  incalculable  consequences. 

I  spoke  above,  however,  of  a  complement,  of  a 
corrective  of  the  work  of  Jeremiah  by  Ezekiel,  and 
this  brings  us  to  the  point  where  Ezekiel  exercised 
a  powerful  influence  on  the  period  which  followed. 
Jeremiah  with  his  religious  subjectivism  and  individ- 
ualism had  spoken  the  final  and  conclusive  word  on 
the  relation  of  the  individual  to  God.  But  beyond  in- 
dividualism Jeremiah  did  not  go.  The  conception  of 
fellowship  was  altogether  wanting  in  his  views.  He 
did  not  notice  that  great  things  on  earth  are  only  pro- 
duced by  union.  Ezekiel,  on  the  other  hand,  regarded 
it  as"  the  aim  and  task  of  his  prophetic  and  pastoral 
mission  to  educate  individuals  not  only  to  be  religious, 
but  also  to  be  members  of  a  community,  which  as  such 
could  not  be  subjectively  determined  only,  but  needed 
besides,  definite  objective  rules  and  principles.  The 
problem  was,  to  preserve  Israel  in  Babylon,  to  prevent 
the  nation  from  being  absorbed  by  the  Gentiles.  To 
this  end  Ezekiel  insists  that  his  people  shall  absolutely 
eschew  the  worship  of  the  idols  of  their  conquerors. 
He  also  discovers  a  means  of  directly  worshipping 
God.  Temple  and  sacrifices  were  wanting  in  the 
strange  land,  but  they  had  the  Sabbath,  which  apper- 
tained to  no  particular  place  nor  land,  which  they 
could  observe  in  Babylon  just  as  well  and  in  the  same 
way  as  in  Palestine.  And  so  Ezekiel  made  the  Sab- 
bath the  fundamental  institution  of  Judaism,  or,  as  he 


EZB  KIEL.  121 

himself  expresses  it,  ''a  sign  between  God  and  Israel, 
by  which  they  shall  know  that  it  is  God  who  sanctifies 
them."  On  every  seventh  day  Israel  shall  feel  itself 
to  be  the  holy  people  of  God. 

Also  in  its  mode  of  life  Israel  must  prove  itself  a 
pure  and  holy  people.  Ezekiel  warns  his  people 
against  the  sins  of  unchastity  with  greater  emphasis 
than  any  of  his  predecessors.  If  the  sanctification  of 
wedded  life  and  the  purity  of  the  family  has  ranked  at 
all  times  as  the  costliest  ornament  and  noblest  treasure 
of  the  Jewish  race,  it  is  a  possession,  in  which  we  cannot 
fail  to  recognise,  more  than  any  other,  the  seal  which 
Ezekiel  lastingly  imprinted  upon  it.  And  moreover, 
Ezekiel  urges  and  inculcates  afresh  the  necessity  of 
love  towards  brethren  and  neighbors.  Every  Israelite 
shall  recognise  in  every  other  a  brother  and  treat  him 
with  brotherly  love,  that  the  little  band  of  dispersed 
and  scattered  exiles  may  be  held  together  in  ideal 
unity  by  this  spiritual  bond.  If  Ezekiel  could  only 
succeed  in  making  of  every  individual  a  sanctified  per- 
sonality, who  at  the  same  time  felt  himself  to  be  a 
member  of  a  community  and  was  steeped  with  the 
conviction  that  he  could  find  true  salvation  only  in 
this  community,  then  would  there  be  some  hope  of 
obtaining  citizens  worthy  of  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
which  was  sure  to  come. 

Ezekiel  has  given  us  a  description  of  this  future 
Kingdom  of  God,  which  ranks  among  the  most  remark- 
able creations  of  his  book.     It  is  the  famous  vision  of 


122  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  new  Jerusalem,  which  forms  the  conclusion  of  the 
Book  of  Ezekiel.  Here  he  essentially  follows  Deute- 
ronomy. The  service  and  worship  of  God  are  marked 
out  most  exactly,  and  the  temple  becomes,  not  only 
spiritually,  but  also  materially,  the  centre  of  the  whole 
nation  and  its  life.  The  priests  and  Levites  receive  a 
definite  portion  of  land  as  the  material  foundation  of 
their  existence. 

Most  noteworthy  of  all,  however,  is  the  future  pic- 
ture of  the  State  in  the  vision  of  Ezekiel.  In  earlier 
speeches  Ezekiel  had  expressed  the  hope  that  the  fu- 
ture king  would  come  of  the  house  of  David,  though 
the  king  he  pictures  exhibits  quite  peculiar  ecclesias- 
tical characteristics.  Now,  however,  there  is  no  fur- 
ther mention  of  a  king  ;  he  is  merely  called  the  prince. 
And  what  is  his  position?  In  the  new  Jerusalem  crime 
is  unknown,  as  God  bestows  on  all  a  new  heart  and  a 
new  mind,  and  turns  them  into  a  people  who  walk  in 
the  way  of  his  commandments,  observe  his  laws,  and 
act  accordingly.  The  administration  of  justice,  then, 
is  no  longer  needed,  and  so  one  of  the  most  important 
moral  functions  of  the  government  dispensed  with. 
Should,  however,  a  crime  or  transgression  actually 
occur,  it  must  be  atoned  for  by  an  ecclesiastical  pen- 
ance. Nor  has  the  State  need  to  provide  for  the  ex- 
ternal welfare  of  the  people,  for  God  gives  all  things 
bounteously  now  and  no  one  is  in  want.  Neither  are 
measures  for  the  external  security  of  the  country  re- 
quired, for  this  is  a  kingdom  of  everlasting  peace. 


EZEKIEL.  123 

where  war  is  no  longer  possible.  Should  a  heathen 
nation  dare  to  disturb  this  peace  and  stretch  forth  its 
hand  against  the  Kingdom  of  God,  God  himself  will 
interfere  and  in  the  fire  of  His  wrath  destroy  the  offen- 
der, so  that  Israel  will  only  need  to  bury  the  corpses, 
and  to  burn  with  fire  the  weapons  of  the  enemy,  as 
described  by  Ezekiel  in  his  wondrous  vision  of  Gog, 
chief  of  the  land  of  Magog. 

In  such  conditions  no  function  is  left  for  the  prince 
but  that  of  representative  of  his  people,  and  patron  of 
the  church.  He  has  to  look  after  the  temple,  and  sup- 
ply the  materials  of  worship,  for  which  purpose  he  can 
only  collect  from  the  people  gifts  of  such  things  as  are 
needful  for  the  sacrifice  :  sheep,  goats,  bullocks,  oxen, 
corn,  wine,  oil.  All  taxes  are  exclusively  church  taxes. 
The  prince  receives,  so  as  not  to  oppress  his  people, 
nor  exact  unlawful  tribute  from  them,  a  rich  demesne 
of  land,  which  he  tills  like  every  other  Israelite.  Also 
each  individual  tribe  receives  its  determinate  portion 
of  the  sacred  land. 

We  have  here  for  the  first  time  in  perfect  distinct- 
ness the  conception  of  a  Kingdom  of  God,  or,  as  we 
might  also  say,  of  an  ecclesiastical  State.  The  State 
is  completely  absorbed  in  the  Church.  Such  is  Eze- 
kiel's  new  Jerusalem,  and  its  name  is  **  Here  is  God." 

These  ideas  were  feasible  as  long  as  the  Baby- 
lonians, the  Persians,  and  the  Greeks  deprived  the 
Jews  of  all  secular  and  governmental  functions  and 
discharged  them  themselves.    Theocracy  as  a  fact,  for 


124  '^H^  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

such  we  are  wont  to  call  this  conception  after  a  word 
coined  by  Josephus, — theocracy  as  a  fact,  realised  in 
this  world,  needed  as  its  complement  and  as  its  pre- 
supposition the  conquest  and  government  of  the  Jews 
by  a  foreign  power.  So  soon,  however,  as  Judah  was 
enabled  and  obliged  to  form  a  national  and  political 
State,  this  contradiction  asserted  itself,  and  the  tragical 
conflict  arose  which  five  hundred  years  later  brought 
about  the  destruction  of  the  State  of  the  Maccabees.^ 

^Professor  Cornill  has  devoted  much  time  and  labor  to  the  prophet  Ezek- 
iel,  the  results  of  which  were  published  in  his  works,  Der  Prophet  Ezechiel  ge- 
schildert, Heidelberg,  1882;  Das  Buch  des  Propheten  Ezechiel  herausgegeben, 
Leipsic,  1886.  We  regret  to  add  that  these  books  have  not  as  yet  been  trans- 
lated.—/'«^/wÄ^r, 


THE  LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF 
THE  EXILE. 


TN  THE  generation  succeeding  Ezekiel  no  prophet 
^  appeared  in  Babylon.  Literary  work  followed 
other  paths  and  other  aims.  The  task  which  now  de- 
volved on  the  nation  was  the  inventorying  of  the  spir- 
itual property  of  Israel ;  possibly  the  people  also 
began  at  this  time  the  collecting  of  the  prophetic  writ- 
ings ;  at  any  rate  they  busied  themselves  extensively 
with  the  historical  literature  of  the  past. 

The  great  philosopher  Spinoza  had  observed  that 
the  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  now 
known  to  us,  form  a  connected  historical  whole,  nar- 
rating the  history  of  the  people  of  Israel  from  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and 
marshalling  all  materials  under  causal  points  of  view 
of  a  distinctively  religious  character.  This  biassed  but 
magnificent  account  of  the  past  life  of  the  chosen  peo- 
ple was  undertaken  during  the  Babylonian  exile,  as  we 
can  discover  from  indubitable  literary  evidence. 

At  the  time  in  question  all  the  outward  and  speci- 


126  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL, 

fically  psychological  conditions  existed  which  favored 
such  a  bent  of  the  mind.  The  destruction  of  State 
and  nationality  awakened  a  new  interest  in  the  past. 
As  in  the  time  of  Germany's  profoundest  national  dis- 
grace, under  the  compulsory  dominion  of  Napoleon, 
the  love  of  the  nation's  all  but  forgotten  past  was  re- 
aroused  to  life,  and  people  buried  themselves  with  lov- 
ing discernment  in  the  rich  depths  of  German  min- 
strelsy, beginning  once  more  to  understand  the  German 
art  of  bygone  days ;  as  the  Germans  recalled  to  mind 
the  names  of  Henry  the  Fowler,  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
Walther  von  der  Vogelweide,  and  Albrecht  Dürer  :  so, 
during  the  captivity  in  Bab34on,  the  Jews  lost  them- 
selves in  the  stories  of  Moses  and  David,  Samuel  and 
Elijah.  They  sought  to  lift  themselves,  by  a  study  of 
their  ancient  greatness  and  by  memories  of  the  past,  to 
a  plane  where  they  could  withstand  the  present,  and 
strengthen  themselves  for  the  future. 

In  thus  contemplating  the  past,  however,  it  was 
necessary  to  explain  above  all  how  the  dread  present 
had  come  to  pass.  For  those  exiled  compilers  and 
expounders  of  the  ancient  historical  traditions  of  Is- 
rael, as  for  Ezekiel,  the  problem  of  all  problems  was 
the  vindication  of  God,  that  is,  a  theodicy.  And  this 
theodicy,  as  in  the  case  of  Ezekiel,  was  conducted  to 
show  that  all  must  have  happened  exactly  as  it  did. 
All  the  evil  which  befell  Israel  is  a  punishment  for  sins 
and  especially  for  the  worship  of  idols.  The  sins  of 
Jeroboam,  who  exhibited  two  golden  calves  at  Dan 


LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  EXILE.     127 

and  Bethel,  hastened  the  destruction  of  Israel,  and 
the  sins  of  Manasseh,  who  had  offered  sacrifices  in  the 
temple  of  Jerusalem  to  Baal  and  to  the  stars,  could 
only  be  atoned  for  by  the  destruction  of  Judah,  de- 
spite the  radical  conversion  and  reforms  of  his  grand- 
son Josiah.  Thus  arose  this  prophetic  exposition  of 
the  history  of  Israel,  which  converts  the  historian  into 
a  prophet  with  his  eyes  turned  to  the  past. 

But  this  historical  writing  has  not  only  a  theoreti- 
cal side,  looking  back  to  the  past,  but  also  an  emi- 
nently practical  side,  looking  forward  to  the  future. 
The  Jews  have  a  firm  hope  in  the  restoration  of  the 
nation,  for  which  they  possessed  an  infallible  guaran- 
tee in  the  prophetical  promise.  Ever  since  Hosea  the 
prophets  had  distinctly  announced  the  judgment,  but 
only  seen  in  the  judgment  the  necessary  transition  to 
the  final  salvation.  On  this  latter  they  counted,  and 
prepared  themselves  for  its  arrival.  And  this  prophetic 
history  of  the  past  shall  be  both  a  warning  and  a  guid- 
ance for  the  future.  The  new  Israel  risen  again  from 
the  tomb  of  captivity  shall  avoid  the  sins  and  errors  of 
the  old  Israel,  which  caused  her  destruction.  We  have 
thus  in  the  historical  work  of  the  exile  a  sort  of  applied 
prophecy,  whose  influence  and  efficacy  were  perhaps 
even  greater  than  that  of  prophecy  itself. 

We  see  thus  that  the  exiles  lived  in  constant  hope. 
Nor  had  they  long  to  wait  for  its  fulfilment.  Seventy 
years  was  the  time  fixed  by  Jeremiah  as  the  period 
of  the  Chaldean  rule.     But  forty-eight  years  after  the 


128  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

destruction  of  Jerusalem  the  kingdom  of  Babylon  had 
ceased  to  exist,  and,  in  the  year  following,  the  new 
king  granted  to  the  exiles  the  long-wished-for  permis- 
sion to  return  to  the  land  of  their  fathers.  The  Baby- 
lonian kingdom  rested  wholly  on  the  person  of  its 
founder,  and  only  survived  his  death  twenty-three  years. 
Nebuchadnezzar  is  styled  by  modern  historians, 
not  unjustly,  "the  great."  He  is  the  most  towering 
personality  in  the  whole  history  of  the  ancient  Orient, 
and  a  new  era  begins  with  him.  The  greatness  of  the 
man  consists  in  the  manner  in  which  he  conceived 
his  vocation  as  monarch.  Nebuchadnezzar  was  a  war- 
rior as  great  as  any  that  had  previously  existed.  He 
had  gained  victories  and  made  conquests  equal  to 
those  of  the  mightiest  rulers  before  him.  But  he  never 
mentions  a  word  of  his  brilliant  achievements  in  any 
of  the  numerous  inscriptions  we  have  of  him.  We 
know  of  his  deeds  only  through  the  accounts  given  by 
those  whom  he  conquered,  and  from  strangers  who 
admired  him.  He  himself  tells  us  only  of  buildings 
and  works  of  peace,  which  he  completed  with  the  help 
of  the  gods,  whom  he  worshipped  with  genuine  rev- 
erence. The  gods  bestowed  on  him  sovereignty,  that 
he  might  become  the  benefactor  of  his  people  and 
subjects.  He  rebuilt  destroyed  cities,  restored  ruined 
temples,  laid  out  canals  and  ponds,  regulated  the 
course  of  rivers,  and  established  harbors,  so  as  to 
open  safe  ways  and  new  roads  for  commerce  and 
trafHc.    We  see  in  this  a  clear  conception  of  the  moral 


LITERARY  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  EXILE.     129 

duties  of  the  State,  where  its  primary  object  is  to  be- 
come a  power  for  civilisation. 

Forty-three  years  were  allotted  to  Nebuchadnez- 
zar, in  which  he  reigned  to  the  welfare  of  humanity. 
He  died  in  the  year  561.  Destiny  denied  to  him  a 
befitting  successor.  His  son,  Evil  Merodach,  was 
murdered  two  years  after,  for  his  atrocities  and  disso- 
luteness, by  his  brother-in-law,  Nergalsharezer,  who 
must  have  been  a  descendant  of  the  older  line  of  Baby- 
lonian kings.  At  his  death  four  years  later,  Nergal- 
sharezer was  able  to  bequeath  the  empire  intact  to 
his  son  Labasi-marduk.  But  as  this  king,  according 
to  the  Babylonian  historian  Berosus,  exhibited  a  thor- 
oughly bad  character,  he  was  slain  by  his  courtiers 
after  nine  months  of  sovereignty,  and  Nabu-nahid 
ascended  the  throne,  555  B.  C,  as  the  last  of  the 
Babylonian  kings.  Nabu-nahid,  or  Nabonidus,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  personally  mild  and  just  ruler, 
with  literary  and  antiquarian  tastes,  to  which  we  owe 
much  that  is  important.  But  a  storm  lowered  over 
his  head,  which  was  soon  to  destroy  with  the  rapidity  of 
lightning  both  himself  and  his  kingdom. 

Cyrus,  the  Median  viceroy  of  that  primitive  and 
robust  nation  of  hunters  and  horsemen,  the  Persians, 
had  shaken  off  the  Median  yoke.  In  the  year  550  he 
had  conquered  and  taken  prisoner  Astyages,  the  last 
Median  king,  and  captured  his  capital  Ecbatana.  Four 
years  later,  Lydia,  the  powerful  neighboring  empire  of 
Cyrus,  succumbed  to  his  resistless  courage  and  energy. 


I30  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

And  now  the  destruction,  or  at  least  the  conquest,  of 
the  Babylonian  empire  was  but  a  question  of  time.  A 
mighty  seething  was  taking  place  among  the  Jewish 
exiles.  Anxiously  and  full  of  confidence  they  awaited 
the  saviour  and  avenger  who  would  destroy  Babylon 
and  again  restore  Jerusalem.  And  in  this  period  of 
the  gathering  storm,  the  stillness  before  the  tempest, 
prophecy  again  lifted  up  its  voice  in  one  of  its  noblest 
and  grandest  representatives,  the  great  Unknown,  who 
wrote  the  concluding  portions  of  the  Book  of  Isaiah, 
and  who  is  therefore  called  the  Second,  or  Deutero- 
Isaiah. 


DEUTERO-ISAIAH. 


TT  IS  now  generally  admitted,  and  may  be  regarded 
■^  as  one  of  the  best  established  results  of  Old  Testa- 
ment research,  that  the  portion  of  our  present  Book  of 
Isaiah,  which  embraces  Chapters  40  to  66,  did  not  ema- 
nate from  the  prophet  Isaiah  known  to  us,  but  is  the 
work  of  an  unknown  prophet  of  the  period  towards  the 
end  of  the  Babylonian  captivity. 

In  many  respects  this  Second  or  Deutero-Isaiah 
must  be  accounted  the  most  brilliant  jewel  of  prophetic 
literature.  In  him  are  gathered  together  as  in  a  focus 
all  the  great  and  noble  meditations  of  the  prophecy 
which  preceded  him,  and  he  reflects  them  with  the  most 
gorgeous  refraction,  and  with  the  most  beauteous  play 
of  light  and  color.  In  style  he  is  a  genius  of  the  first 
rank,  a  master  of  language,  and  a  proficient  in  diction 
equalled  by  few.  One  feels  almost  tempted  to  call  him 
the  greatest  among  the  prophets,  were  it  not  that  we 
find  in  him  the  most  distinct  traces  that  the  Israelitish 
prophecy  had  reached  once  for  all  its  culminating 
point  in  Jeremiah,  and  that  we  are  now  starting  on  the 


132  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

downward  slope.  These  traces,  it  is  true,  are  scat- 
tered and  sporadic  in  Deutero-Isaiah,  but  they  are  the 
more  striking  in  connexion  with  a  mind  of  such  pre- 
eminence. Prophecy  has  now  a  drop  of  foreign  blood 
in  its  veins,  which  the  first  Isaiah  or  Jeremiah  would 
have  repudiated  with  indignation.  The  influence  and 
views  of  Deuteronomy,  which  first  disintegrated  and 
then  completely  stifled  prophecy,  now  begin  to  make 
themselves  felt. 

The  fundamental  theme  and  the  burden  of  his  mes- 
sage is  told  by  Deutero-Isaiah  in  the  first  words  of  his 
book,  which  also  form  the  beginning  of  Handel's  Mes- 
siah,  and  are  well-known  to  every  lover  of  music  in  the 
wondrously  solemn  strains  of  the  master  : 

'<  Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye  my  people,  saith  your 
God.  Speak  ye  comfortably  to  Jerusalem  and  cry  unto 
her  that  her  day  of  trial  is  accomplished  and  that  her 
iniquity  is  pardoned  ;  for  she  hath  received  of  the 
Lord's  hand  double  for  all  her  sins." 

In  the  wilderness  the  way  shall  be  prepared  for 
God  and  his  people  returning  to  their  home  : 

*'  Prepare  ye  in  the  wilderness  the  way  of  the  Lord, 
make  straight  in  the  desert  a  highway  for  our  God. 
Every  valley  shall  be  exalted,  and  every  mountain  and 
hill  shall  be  made  low  ;  and  the  crooked  shall  be  made 
straight  and  the  rough  places  plain.  For  now  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed,  and  all  flesh  shall 
see  it,  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it." 

And  all  these  wonders  shall  be  fulfilled,  for  no 


DEÜTERO-ISAIAH.  133 

power  in  man  can  hinder  God's  work,  because  his 
promise  remains  eternally. 

''All  flesh  is  grass,  and  all  the  splendor  thereof  is 
as  the  flower  of  the  field.  The  grass  withereth,  the 
flower  fadeth  :  because  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  bloweth 
upon  it.  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  but 
the  word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever." 

And  now  Jerusalem  lying  in  its  ruins  is  addressed, 
and  the  joyful  message  shouted  to  the  other  Jewish 
towns  that  were  demolished  : 

''O  Zion  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  get  thee  up 
into  a  high  mountain.  O  Jerusalem  that  bringeth  good 
tidings,  lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength  ;  lift  it  up,  be 
not  afraid  ;  say  unto  the  cities  of  Judah,  Behold  your 
God  !  Behold  the  Lord  God  will  come  with  strong 
hand  and  his  arm  shall  rule  free  in  his  omnipotence  : 
behold  his  reward  is  with  him,  and  his  recompense  be- 
fore him.  He  shall  feed  his  flock  like  a  shepherd  ;  he 
shall  gather  the  lambs  in  his  arms,  and  carry  them  in 
his  bosom,  and  shall  gently  lead  those  that  are  with 
young." 

What  fills  the  prophet  with  this  hope,  that  which 
has  given  him  the  assurance  that  now  the  salvation 
promised  by  God  is  about  to  be  accomplished,  are  the 
victories  and  deeds  of  Cyrus,  by  which  the  king  had 
proved  himself  to  be  the  chosen  weapon,  the  executor 
of  the  divine  judgment  on  Babylon. 

''Who  hath  raised  up  the  man  from  the  east,  in 
whose  footsteps  victory  follows,  hath  given  the  nations 


134  "^HE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

before  him,  and  made  him  rule  over  kings?  hath  given 
them  as  dust  to  his  sword,  and  as  the  driven  stubble  to 
his  bow?  He  pursueth  them,  and  passeth  on  safely, 
even  by  ways  that  his  feet  have  never  trodden.'* 

''I  have  raised  up  him  from  the  north  and  he  shall 
come  :  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  shall  he  call  upon 
my  name,  and  he  shall  come  upon  princes  as  upon 
mortar,  and  as  the  potter  treadeth  clay." 

"I  have  raised  him  up  for  victory  and  I  will  make 
straight  all  his  ways  ;  he  shall  build  my  city  again,  and 
he  shall  let  my  exiles  go  free." 

*'  I  shall  call  a  ravenous  bird  from  the  east,  and  the 
man  that  executeth  my  counsel  from  a  far  country ; 
yea,  I  have  spoken  it,  I  will  also  bring  it  to  pass  ;  I 
have  purposed  it,  I  will  also  do  it." 

God  loves  him,  and  has  chosen  him  to  perform  his 
pleasure  on  Babylon  and  execute  his  judgment  on  the 
Chaldeans. 

**I,  even  I,  have  spoken  ;  yea,  I  have  called  him, 
I  have  brought  him  hither,  and  his  way  shall  be  pros- 
perous." 

Cyrus  is  even  called  directly  by  name,  so  that  there 
may  not  be  the  slightest  doubt  as  to  the  upshot  of  the 
matter  : 

*'  I  am  the  Lord  that  saith  of  Cyrus  :  He  is  my 
shepherd  and  shall  perform  all  my  pleasure,  even  say- 
ing to  Jerusalem,  Thou  shalt  be  built,  and  to  the  tem- 
ple, thy  foundation  shall  be  laid  again.'* 

''  Thus  saith  the  Lord  to  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus, 


DEUTERO-ISAIAH.  135 

whose  right  hand  I  have  strengthened,  to  subdue  na- 
tions before  him  ;  and  the  doors  shall  open  before  him, 
and  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut.  I  myself  will  go  be- 
fore thee  and  make  the  rugged  places  plain  ;  I  will 
break  in  pieces  the  gates  of  brass,  and  cut  in  sunder 
the  bars  of  iron  ;  and  I  will  give  thee  the  treasures  of 
darkness,  and  hidden  riches  of  secret  places,  that  thou 
mayest  know  that  I,  the  Lord,  which  call  thee  by  name, 
am  the  God  of  Israel." 

Here  the  prophet  calls  the  Persian  conqueror  by  the 
most  honorable  names,  '' Shepherd,"  even  '' anointed 
of  God,"  and  here  must  be  considered  the  curious  fact, 
that  he  nov/here  speaks  of  a  future  Messiah  of  the 
house  of  David,  but  that  he  is  always  concerned  sim- 
ply with  God  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  Israel  and 
Jerusalem  on  the  other.  This  seems  to  have  met  with 
lively  opposition  from  his  first  hearers.  They  cannot 
bring  themselves  to  find  in  a  Gentile  the  executor  of 
that,  which  according  to  general  expectation  the  ideal 
Son  of  David  should  accomplish  ;  and  thus  Deutero- 
Isaiah  in  a  very  remarkable  passage  chides  their  ques- 
tionings and  anxieties,  which  is  tantamount  to  a  criti- 
cism of  the  plan  of  God,  who  has  decided  upon  this 
Persian  king  as  his  shepherd  and  as  his  anointed.  And 
that  leads  us  to  a  cardinal  feature  in  Deutero-Isaiah, — 
namely,  the  stress  he  lays  on  the  omnipotence  of  God, 
and  which  the  prophet  never  wearies  of  repeating  in 
ever  newer  and  loftier  variations  : 

''Who  hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of 


136  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

his  hand,  and  meted  out  heaven  with  the  span,  and 
comprehended  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure  and 
weighed  the  mountains  in  scales,  and  the  hills  in  a 
balance?  " 

'' Behold  the  nations  before  him  are  as  a  drop  of  a 
bucket  and  are  counted  as  the  small  dust  of  a  balance  : 
behold  he  weigheth  the  isles  as  dust.  And  Lebanon 
is  not  sufficient  for  wood  to  burn,  nor  the  beasts  thereof 
sufficient  for  a  burnt  offering.  All  nations  before  him 
are  as  nothing  :  and  they  are  counted  to  him  less  than 
nothing,  and  vanity." 

*'  It  is  he  that  sitteth  upon  the  circle  of  the  earth, 
and  the  inhabitants  thereof  are  as  grasshoppers  ;  that 
stretcheth  out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain,  and  spread- 
eth  them  out  like  a  tent  to  dwell  in." 

*<  Lift  up  your  eyes  to  heaven.  Who  hath  created 
this?  He  that  bringeth  out  their  host  by  number  and 
calleth  them  all  by  names  ;  for  that  he  is  strong  in 
power,  not  one  faileth. " 

This  omnipotent  God  of  Israel  is  the  only  God  in 
Heaven  and  on  earth,  everlasting,  eternal,  the  first 
and  the  last,  and  beside  Him  there  is  no  God.  Deutero- 
Isaiah  lays  special  emphasis  on  this  point.  No  one 
has  held  up  to  scorn  more  bitterly  than  he  the  idols  of 
the  heathen,  and  proved  their  emptiness  and  impo- 
tence. 

*'The  workman  melteth  a  graven  image,  and  the 
goldsmith  spreadeth  it  over  with  gold,  and  casteth 
thereon  silver  chains.     He  that  is  too  impoverished 


DEUTERO-ISAIAH.  137 

for  such  an  outlay  chooseth  a  tree  that  will  not  rot  ; 
and  seeketh  unto  him  a  cunning  workman  to  prepare 
a  graven  image,  that  shall  not  rock." 

^^They  helped  every  one  his  neighbour  and  every 
one  said  to  his  brother,  Be  of  good  courage.  So 
the  workman  encouraged  the  goldsmith,  and  he  that 
smootheth  with  the  hammer  him  that  smiteth  the  an- 
vil, saying  of  the  soldering,  It  is  good :  and  he  fasten- 
eth  it  with  nails,  that  it  should  not  be  moved." 

*'  They  lavish  gold  out  of  the  bag,  and  weigh  silver 
in  the  balance,  and  hire  a  goldsmith,  and  he  maketh 
it  a  god  :  they  fall  down,  yea,  they  worship  it.  They 
bear  him  upon  the  shoulder,  they  carry  him,  and  set 
him  in  his  place  and  he  standeth  ;  from  his  place  shall 
he  not  remove :  yea,  one  shall  cry  unto  him,  yet  he 
cannot  answer,  nor  save  him  out  of  his  trouble.  '* 

And,  again,  in  the  principal  passage : 

''Who  hath  formed  a  god,  or  molten  a  graven 
image  that  is  profitable  for  nothing?  Behold  all  his 
fellows  shall  be  ashamed,  for  the  workmen  they  are 
men.  The  smith  with  the  tongs  both  worketh  in  the 
coals  and  fashioneth  with  hammers,  and  worketh  it 
with  the  strength  of  his  arms  ;  he  groweth  hungry  and 
his  strength  faileth  :  he  drinketh  no  water  and  is  faint. 
The  carpenter  stretcheth  out  his  rule,  he  marketh  it 
out  with  a  line,  he  fitteth  it  with  planes,  and  he  mark- 
eth it  out  with  the  compass,  and  shapeth  it  after  the 
figure  of  a  man,  according  to  the  beauty  of  a  man,  to 
dwell  in  a  house.     He  heweth  him  down  cedars  and 


138  7'HE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

taketh  the  holm-tree  and  the  oak  which  he  strengthen- 
eth  for  himself  among  the  trees  of  the  forest ;  he  planteth 
a  fir-tree  and  the  rain  doth  nourish  it,  that  it  shall  be 
for  a  man  to  burn.  And  he  taketh  thereof  and  warmeth 
himself ;  yea,  he  kindleth  it  and  maketh  bread ;  yea, 
he  maketh  a  god  and  worshippeth  it ;  he  maketh  it  a 
graven  image  and  falleth  down  thereto.  He  burneth 
part  thereof  in  the  fire ;  with  part  thereof  he  eateth 
flesh  ;  he  roasteth  roast  and  is  satisfied  ;  yea,  he  warm- 
eth himself  and  saith,  Aha,  I  am  warm,  I  have  felt  the 
fire  :  And  the  residue  thereof  he  maketh  a  god,  even 
his  graven  image  :  he  falleth  down  unto  it  and  wor- 
shippeth it,  and  prayeth  unto  it,  and  saith,  Deliver 
me ;  for  thou  art  my  god.  .  .  .  And  none  considereth 
in  his  heart,  neither  is  there  knowledge  nor  under- 
standing to  say,  I  have  burned  part  of  it  in  the  fire  ; 
yea,  also  I  have  baked  bread  upon  the  coals  thereof ; 
I  have  roasted  flesh  and  eaten  it  :  and  shall  I  make  the 
residue  thereof  an  abomination?  shall  I  fall  down  to 
the  stock  of  a  tree?  " 

And  the  exclusive  divinity  of  this  God  of  Israel  is 
now  proved  by  Deutero-Isaiah  most  characteristically 
from  the  prophecy :  he  is  the  only  One  who  has  pre- 
viously foretold  the  future  : 

'*Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  King  of  Israel,  and  his 
redeemer,  the  Lord  of  hosts.  I  am  the  first  and  I  am 
the  last  ',  and  beside  me  there  is  no  God.  Who  is  as 
I?  Let  him  stand  forth  and  say  it  and  declare  it,  and 
set  it  opposite  to  me.     And  the  things  that  are  com- 


DEUTERO-ISAIAH.  139 

ing,  and  that  shall  come  to  pass,  let  them  declare. 
Fear  ye  not,  neither  be  afraid :  have  I  not  declared 
unto  thee  of  old,  and  shewed  it?  ye  even  are  my  wit- 
nesses, whether  there  be  a  God,  whether  there  be  a 
rock  beside  me?" 

This  God  of  prophecy,  whose  predictions  never 
fail,  had  long  foretold  that  Babylon  must  fall,  and  He, 
the  Almighty,  before  whom  the  people  are  as  nothing, 
He  will  now  carry  out  His  plan,  through  Cyrus,  His 
shepherd  and  His  anointed.  The  impending  destruc- 
tion of  the  Babylonian  tyrant,  of  his  kingdom,  and 
of  his  city,  is  described  in  the  most  vivid  colors  of 
hatred  and  scorn.  And  then  shall  take  place  the  re- 
turn of  Israel  to  the  land  of  its  fathers.  God  himself 
heads  the  procession  and  makes  in  the  wilderness  a 
safe  way  through  shady  trees  and  rippling  fountains, 
that  they  may  build  at  last  the  new  Jerusalem,  whose 
splendor  the  prophet  depicts  in  the  most  gorgeous 
colors. 

*'For  the  mountains  shall  depart  and  the  hills  be 
removed,  but  my  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee, 
neither  shall  the  covenant  of  my  peace  be  removed, 
saith  the  Lord  that  hath  mercy  on  thee.  O  thou  af- 
flicted, tossed  with  tempests,  and  not  comforted,  be- 
hold I  will  set  thy  stones  in  fair  colors  and  lay  thy 
foundations  with  sapphires.  And  I  will  make  thy  pin- 
nacles of  rubies,  and  thy  gates  of  carbuncles,  and  all 
thy  border  of  precious  stones.  And  all  who  build  thee 
shall  be  taught  of  the  Lord  and  great  shall  be  the 


140  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

peace  of  thy  children.  In  righteousness  shalt  thou  be 
established ;  thou  shalt  be  far  from  oppression  for 
thou  shalt  not  fear,  and  from  terror  for  it  shall  not 
come  near  thee.  If  bands  gather  together  against  thee, 
it  shall  not  be  from  me  :  and  whosoever  shall  gather  to- 
gether against  thee  shall  fall  because  of  thee."  '<  I  will 
make  thy  officers  peace,  and  thine  exactors  righteous- 
ness .  .  .  and  thou  shalt  call  thy  walls  Salvation,  and 
thy  gates  Praise.  The  sun  shall  be  no  more  thy  light 
by  day;  neither  for  brightness  shall  the  moon  give 
light  unto  thee  ;  but  the  Lord  shall  be  unto  thee  an 
everlasting  light,  and  thy  God  thy  glory.  .  .  .  Thy 
people  also  shall  be  all  righteous ;  they  shall  inherit 
the  land  forever,  the  branch  of  my  planting,  the  work 
of  my  hands,  that  I  may  be  glorified." 

Brilliant  as  all  this  is,  however,  it  is  in  a  manner 
only  a  secondary  achievement  of  Deutero-Isaiah.  His 
special  and  fundamental  conception  is  different,  and 
infinitely  more  profound  than  this.  He  adopted  the 
idea,  first  clearly  conceived  by  the  original  Isaiah,  of 
a  world's  history,  but  widened  it  and  deepened  it  by 
combination  with  one  of  Jeremiah's  thoughts.  Accord- 
ing to  Jeremiah,  all  men  and  all  nations  are  destined 
and  called  upon  to  turn  to  God  and  become  His  chil- 
dren. Deutero-Isaiah  sees  in  this  the  final  aim  of  the 
history  of  the  world,  towards  which  its  entire  develop- 
ment and  guidance  strives.  *'  My  house  shall  be  called 
a  house  of  prayer  unto  all  nations." 

Now,  this  gives  to  him  an  entirely  new  foundation 


DEUTERO-ISAIAH.  141 

for  his  contemplation  of  Israel.  Israel  alone  knows 
and  possesses  the  true  God.  Only  through  Israel  can 
the  other  nations  learn  to  know  Him,  and  thus  Israel 
becomes  the  servant  and  messenger  of  God,  the  laborer 
and  herald  of  God  to  man.  Israel  is  to  mankind  what 
the  prophet  is  to  Israel.  God  is  the  God  of  the  whole 
earth,  and  Israel  His  prophet  for  the  whole  earth. 
Thus  may  we  sum  up  most  succinctly  the  theology  of 
Deutero-Isaiah.     He  says : 

*<But  thou,  Israel,  my  servant,  Jacob  whom  I  have 
chosen,  the  seed  of  Abraham,  my  friend ;  thou  whom 
I  have  taken  hold  of  from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and 
called  thee  from  the  corners  thereof,  and  said  unto 
thee.  Thou  art  my  servant ;  I  have  chosen  thee  and 
not  cast  thee  away;  fear  then  not  for  I  am  with  thee ; 
be  not  dismayed,  for  I  am  thy  God :  I  will  strengthen 
thee ;  yea,  I  will  help  thee ;  yea,  I  will  uphold  thee 
with  the  right  hand  of  my  righteousness.  Behold  all 
they  that  are  incensed  against  thee  shall  be  ashamed 
and  confounded  :  they  that  strive  with  thee  shall  be  as 
nothing,  and  shall  perish.  .  .  .  For  I  the  Lord  thy 
God  will  hold  thy  right  hand,  saying  unto  thee.  Fear 
not;  I  will  help  thee.  Fear  not,  thou  worm  Jacob, 
thou  maggot  Israel ;  I  will  help  thee,  saith  the  Lord, 
and  thy  redeemer,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel." 

*'It  is  too  light  a  thing  that  I  should  raise  up  the 
tribes  of  Jacob,  and  restore  the  preserved  of  Israel:  I 
will  also  give  thee  for  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  that 


142  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  unto  the  ends  of  the 
earth. " 

'* Behold  my  servant,  whom  I  uphold;  mine  elect, 
in  whom  my  soul  delighteth ;  I  have  put  my  spirit 
upon  him  ;  he  shall  bring  forth  judgment  to  the  Gen- 
tiles. ...  A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break,  and  the 
smoking  flax  shall  he  not  quench  :  he  shall  bring  forth 
judgment  in  truth.  He  shall  not  quench,  nor  shall  he 
bruise,  till  he  have  set  judgment  in  the  earth,  and  the 
isles  shall  wait  for  his  law." 

And  here  Deutero-Isaiah  obtains  a  clue  to  the  enig- 
matical history  of  Israel.  All  Israel's  sufferings  have 
been  borne  in  its  vocation  as  servant  of  God.  ''  Who 
is  blind,  but  my  servant?  or  deaf,  as  my  messenger 
that  I  send?  who  is  blind  as  my  trusted  one,  and  deaf 
as  the  Lord's  servant?" 

But  this  also  did  God  will  and  suffer.  In  the  un- 
worthiness  of  the  instrument  does  the  splendor,  the 
greatness  of  God  disclose  itself,  who  knows  how  to 
fulfil  His  plans  in  mysterious  ways.  Even  in  Israel 
those  only  become  the  servant  of  God  who  have  re- 
turned to  Jacob,  who  are  of  broken  heart  and  contrite 
spirit ;  and  thus  the  tribulations  of  Israel  serve  the 
great  universal  plan,  in  that  they  educate  Israel  for  its 
mission  in  the  world,  its  everlasting,  high  vocation. 
Israel  is  the  suffering  servant  of  God,  on  whom  the 
punishment  falls,  that  the  salvation  of  the  world  may 
come  to  pass,  and  through  whose  wounds  all  shall  be 
saved.     Israel's  forced  sufferings  were  borne  for  its 


DEUTERO-ISAIAH.  143 

own  and  for  the  world's  salvation,  that  Israel,  purified 
and  refined  through  sorrows,  might  become  a  light  to 
the  Gentiles  and  a  blessing  to  the  whole  world. 

A  more  magnificent  theology  of  history,  if  I  may 
be  allowed  the  expression,  than  that  of  Deutero-Isaiah, 
has  never  been  given. 

And  yet  this  sublime  mind  cannot  withdraw  itself 
altogether  from  the  influences  of  the  time,  and  so  Deu- 
tero-Isaiah falls  short  of  the  eminence  of  Jeremiah, 
and  begins  the  declining  line  of  prophecy.  Jeremiah's 
circumcision  of  the  heart  becomes  in  him  the  circum- 
cision of  the  flesh  ;  to  him  the  sanctity  of  the  new  Je- 
rusalem mainly  consists  in  that  it  shall  not  be  inhabited 
by  the  uncircumcised  and  the  impure  ;  the  converted 
Gentiles  he  looks  upon  only  as  Jews  of  the  second  or- 
der. In  that  Israel  had  to  suffer  for  the  world,  shall 
it  in  the  concluding  age  of  salvation  rule  over  the 
world.  Kings  shall  lie  prostrate  before  this  people 
and  lick  the  dust  from  off  their  feet.  All  the  nations 
shall  bring  their  treasures  and  riches  to  Jerusalem. 
The  people  or  kingdom  which  does  not  do  homage  to 
Israel  shall  perish ;  yea,  all  nations  shall  worship  Is- 
rael, and  do  menial  service  for  Israel,  tend  its  flocks, 
and  till  its  fields  and  vineyards,  whilst  Israel  shall 
consume  the  riches  of  the  nations,  and  be  made  a 
praise  in  the  earth.  Jeremiah  could  not  have  written 
such  sentences.  Here  we  remark  that  with  Deutero- 
Isaiah  we  are  no  longer  in  Israel,  but  have  reached 
Judaism. 


144  I^HE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

The  deliverance  of  Israel  so  fervidly  hoped  for  and 
foretold  with  such  assurance  by  Deutero-Isaiah  did  in 
reality  take  place.  With  the  lightning-like  rapidity 
peculiar  to  him,  Cyrus  had  also  overthrown  the  king- 
dom of  Babylon.  On  the  3d  of  November,  538,  he  made 
his  triumphal  entry  into  Babylon.  The  kingdom  of 
Nebuchadnezzar  ceased  to  exist.  And  within  a  j^ear 
after  the  capture  of  Babylon  the  new  ruler  actually 
gave  the  exiles  permission  to  return  to  Jerusalem.  In 
the  spring  of  537  B.  C.  they  began  their  journey,  and 
with  it  begins  a  new  chapter  in  the  history  of  Israel 
and  of  prophecy. 


THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  CAPTIVITY. 


CYRUS,  the  conqueror  and  new  ruler  of  Babylon,  at 
once  gave  the  Jewish  exiles  permission  to  return 
to  their  native  land,  and  supported  and  helped  them  in 
every  way.  We  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the  assertion 
that  he  provided  the  means  for  rebuilding  the  demol- 
ished temple  from  the  funds  of  the  Persian  treasury, 
and  that  he  ordered  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  ancient 
temple  which  had  been  plundered  by  the  Chaldeans, 
so  far  as  they  still  existed  or  were  recognisable,  to  be 
returned  to  the  homeward-bound  Israelites. 

The  question  has  been  raised,  why  Cyrus  should 
have  exhibited  such  sympathy  for  the  Jewish  exiles 
and  espoused  so  cordially  their  cause,  and  the  reason 
of  it  has  been  sought  in  a  certain  supposed  affinity 
between  the  Ahura-Mazda  religion  avowed  by  Cyrus 
and  his  Persians,  and  the  God-belief  of  the  Israelites. 
In  point  of  fact  a  certain  similarity  may  be  traced  be- 
tween the  pure  and  profound  Persian  worship  of  light 
and  the  belief  of  the  Jewish  exiles  in  Babylon,  whilst, 
on  the  other  hand,  to  a  Mazda- Yasnian,  like  Cyrus, 


146  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  Babylonian  cult  must  have  appeared  in  the  highest 
degree  unsympathetic  and  ludicrous. 

But  Cyrus  was  not  a  sentimental  man,  and  religious 
fanaticism  was  as  foreign  to  him  as  to  his  people. 
We  have  to  recognise  in  the  liberation  of  the  Jews 
merely  a  political  action,  the  reason  of  which  is  very 
apparent.  Now  that  Babylon  had  been  overthrown, 
there  existed  but  one  powerful  state  bordering  on  the 
kingdom  of  Persia,  and  that  was  the  old  land  of  the 
pyramids — Eg3^pt,  which  just  at  this  time  was  enjoy- 
ing a  new  lease  of  vigor  under  the  long  and  prosperous 
reign  of  Amasis,  and  was  taking  an  important  part  in 
politics.  As  early  as  the  year  547  Egypt  had  joined  a 
powerful  coalition  against  the  young  and  rising  king- 
dom of  Persia ;  long  before,  the  Assyrians  had  fought 
against  Egypt  and  temporarily  subdued  it,  and  like- 
wise Nebuchadnezzar  had  waged  war  against  this 
country.  It  lay  in  the  logic  of  facts  and  circumstances, 
accordingly,  that  sooner  or  later  hostilities  between  the 
two  neighboring  powers  must  break  out ;  and  there- 
fore it  was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  that 
such  a  clear-sighted  and  far-seeing  man  as  Cyrus 
should  prepare  for  it.  The  restoration  of  Jerusalem 
and  of  Judah,  then,  was  a  mere  link  in  the  chain  of 
these  preparations.  Judaea  was  the  province  border- 
ing on  Egypt,  and  Jerusalem  the  natural  basis  of 
operations  for  a  campaign  directed  against  the  valley 
of  the  Nile.  We  can,  therefore,  well  understand  that 
it  appeared  desirable  to  Cyrus  to  know  that  a  people 


THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  CAPTIVITY.  147 

dwelt  there  who  was  bound  to  him  by  the  most  power- 
ful ties  of  gratitude,  and  on  whose  faithfulness  and 
devotion  he  could  confidently  rely. 

If  Cyrus  laid  stress  on  the  religious  element  and 
proved  himself  a  worshipper  of  the  God  of  the  Jews, 
his  attitude  in  this  respect  simply  coincides  with  his 
maxims  of  government,  as  we  may  shov/  by  documen- 
tary evidence.  A  considerable  number  of  inscriptions 
concerning  Cyrus  exist,  which  he  as  king  of  Babylon 
ordered  to  be  made  in  the  old  Babylonian  cuneiform 
character,  and  in  these  Cyrus  appears  as  the  most  de- 
vout servant  and  sincere  worshipper  of  the  Babylonian 
gods.  He  returns  thanks  to  Merodach  and  to  Nebo 
for  the  protection  accorded  to  him,  and  grants  spe- 
cial privileges  to  their  temples  and  priests.  The 
conduct  of  Cyrus  towards  the  Jewish  exiles  must  be 
considered  from  this  twofold  point  of  view,  which 
does  not  exclude  the  additional  possibility  that  in  their 
fervid  expectation  of  the  fall  of  the  Babylonian  tyrant, 
the  Jews  took  an  active  part  in  the  operations  and 
both  countenanced  and  aided  Cyrus  and  his  Persians 
in  their  enterprise  against  Babylon,  for  which  the 
Persians  showed  themselves  thankful. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  537  B.  C.  the  Israelites 
began  their  homeward  march.  They  numbered  about 
50,000  souls  and  were  evidently  members  of  all  the 
families  of  the  house  of  Judah.  They  were  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Persian  commissary  Sheshbazzar. 
The  government  and  management  of  internal  affairs 


148  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

was  lodged  in  a  council  of  twelve  confidential  advis- 
ors, among  whom  and  occupying  the  highest  offices 
were  Zerubbabel,  the  grandson  of  King  Jehoiachin, 
and  Joshua,  the  grandson  of  Seraiah,  the  last  priest 
of  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  put  to  death  under  Ne- 
buchadnezzar. 

It  has  often  been  supposed  that  the  worldly-minded 
of  the  Jewish  nation  remained  behind  in  Babylon,  in 
sure  and  comfortable  positions,  from  unwillingness  to 
risk  the  dangers  of  the  march,  or  the  hardships  of  lay- 
ing out  and  newly  settling  a  devastated  country.  But 
this  view  is  totally  false  and  in  contradiction  to  well- 
established  facts.  We  shall  soon  see  that  the  Jews 
who  remained  behind,  in  the  end  really  led  the  work 
of  reform,  and  victoriously  carried  to  completion  the 
rehabilitation  of  the  religious  system  against  the  will 
of  those  who  returned  in  537. 

Immediately  on  the  arrival  of  the  exiles  the  altar 
was  erected  on  the  sacred  spot  where  once  had  stood 
the  sacrificial  altar  of  the  temple  of  Solomon,  and  the 
autumn  festival  of  the  year  537  could  accordingly  be 
celebrated  with  a  solemn  oblation  to  the  God  of  Israel. 
Unfortunately  we  have  only  meagre  and  incomplete 
details  regarding  the  370  years  which  intervene  be- 
tween this  event  and  the  outbreak  of  the  Maccabaean 
revolt ;  only  isolated  moments  and  events  are  at  all 
well  known  to  us,  and  these,  although  they  throw  a 
ray  of  light  now  and  then  into  the  dense  obscurity  of 


THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  CAPTIVITY.  149 

this  period,  yet  ofttimes  present  more  puzzles  than 
they  solve. 

In  537  the  cult  was  restored,  but  the  most  definite 
and  indubitable  evidence  forces  us  to  conclude  that 
no  attempt  was  made  to  rebuild  the  temple  for 
seventeen  years.  On  the  other  hand,  highly  momen- 
tous transformations  must  have  taken  place  within 
the  priesthood ;  for  in  the  year  520  we  suddenly  find 
a  high-priest  of  whom  there  is  no  premonitory  trace 
in  the  Israel  of  the  pre-exilic  period,  and  of  whom 
absolutely  nothing  is  known  either  in  Deuteronomy, 
or  by  Ezekiel. 

I  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  enter  more  minutely 
into  this  matter,  for  it  is  as  important  as  it  is  interest- 
ing. It  is  to  be  observed  that  in  the  year  520  B.  C. 
prophecy  once  more  awoke.  And  here  again  a  great 
historical  crisis  was  its  origin.  Cambyses,  the  de- 
generate son  and  successor  of  the  great  Cyrus,  had 
indeed  subdued  Egypt  in  525,  and  thus  inserted  the 
keystone  in  the  arch  of  the  Persian  empire ;  but  he 
was  very  near  destroying  it  by  his  cruelty  and  tyranny. 
In  522  the  Magus  Gaumata  gave  himself  out  to  be 
the  brother  of  Cambyses  whom  the  latter  had  secretly 
put  to  death,  and  called  upon  the  Persian  people  to 
rid  themselves  of  this  monster.  Cambyses  marched 
against  him,  but  committed  suicide  in  Hamath  in 
Syria,  leaving  no  son.  The  Magus  ruled  for  nearly  a 
year  unmolested,  till  Darius,  who  was  directly  con- 
nected with  the  royal  house  through  a  branch  line, 


150  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

claimed  his  rights  as  heir,  and  aided  by  the  noblest 
families  of  Persia,  put  the  Magus  to  death  in  the 
autumn  of  the  year  521.  That  was  the  signal  for  up- 
risings throughout  the  whole  empire.  Excitement 
reigned  everywhere.  Two  full  years  Darius  had  to 
struggle  with  difficulties  of  every  kind,  till  at  last  he 
succeeded  in  restoring  order  and  consolidating  the 
kingdom  of  Persia,  a  consolidation  which  lasted  more 
than  two  centuries. 

In  this  restless  and  seething  period  prophecy  was 
again  aroused.  Suddenly  Zerubbabel  of  the  house  of 
David  appears  as  the  Persian  viceroy  in  Judaea.  It  is 
possible  that  Darius  did  this  to  win  over  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  Jews,  and  to  assure  himself  of  their 
help  at  a  period  when  his  sovereignty  was  gravely 
threatened. 

In  the  year  520  a  bad  harvest  seems  to  have 
brought  famine  and  hunger  into  the  land ;  and  at  this 
crisis  appeared  an  aged  and  venerable  man,  Haggai, 
who  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  old  temple  and 
the  old  Jerusalem,  and  who  must  therefore  have  been 
in  his  seventies,  with  words  of  warning  and  exhorta- 
tion. The  famine  had  been  the  punishment  of  God 
for  that  the  people  dwelt  in  ceiled  houses,  whilst  His 
house  lay  waste.  Undaunted  and  unconcerned  should 
they  go  to  work,  for  a  grand  future  was  in  store  for 
this  new  temple,  and  Zerubbabel  himself  should  be 
their  Messiah.     Saith  Haggai : 

*'Yet  now  be  strong,  O  Zerubbabel,   be  strong,   O 


THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  CAPTIVITY.  151 

Joshua,  be  strong  all  ye  people,  and  work,  for  I  am 
with  you,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  .  .  .  and  my  spirit 
remaineth  among  you  .  .  .  For  thus  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts :  Yet  once,  it  is  a  little  while,  and  I  will  shake 
the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the  dry 
land.  And  I  will  shake  all  nations,  and  the  valuable 
things  of  all  nations  shall  come,  and  I  will  fill  this 
house  with  glory.  The  silver  is  mine,  and  the  gold 
is  mine,  and  the  latter  glory  of  this  house  will  be 
greater  than  the  former,  and  in  this  place  will  I  give 
peace." 

And  to  Zerubbabel  specially  He  saith : 
**I  will  shake  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  I 
will  overthrow  the  throne  of  kingdoms,  and  I  will  de- 
stroy the  strength  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  heathen ; 
and  I  will  overthrow  the  chariots  and  those  that  ride 
in  them,  and  the  horses  and  their  riders  shall  come 
down,  every  one  by  the  sword  of  his  brother.  In  that 
day  will  I  take  thee,  O  Zerubbabel,  my  servant,  and  I 
will  make  thee  as  a  signet:  for  I  have  chosen  thee." 
As  we  are  told  by  Haggai,  the  cornerstone  of  the 
new  temple  was  actually  laid  on  the  24th  of  De- 
cember, 520.  We  can  plainly  see  the  influence  and 
reflexion  of  the  ideas  of  Isaiah  and  Deutero-Isaiah  in 
Haggai.  Haggai  has  given  us  nothing  of  his  own. 
Yet  in  its  simple  and  unpretentious  style  his  little 
book  has  something  peculiarly  touching  in  it,  and 
brings  before  us  vividly  and  immediately  the  feelings 
and  views  of  his  time. 


152  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

Contemporaneously  with  Haggai  appeared  another 
prophet  with  the  same  views  and  with  the  same  aims 
— Zechariah.  His  book  has  the  same  subject  as  that 
of  Haggai :  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  and  the 
future  Messianic  kingdom  of  Zerubbabel.  But  in  a 
literary  point  of  view  Zechariah  is  highly  remarkable 
and  unique.  He  has  abandoned  the  old  style  of 
prophecy,  which  was  that  of  the  discourse  or  sermon, 
and  depicts  in  its  stead  visions  which  he  has  seen, 
and  which  are  explained  to  him  by  an  angel.  Zech- 
ariah clothes  his  ideas  in  mysteriously  symbolical 
forms,  which  is  indubitable  proof  that  prophecy  has 
loosed  itself  from  its  natural  soil  and  developed  into  a 
purely  literary  creation.  It  may  be  compared  to  a 
book-drama  of  to-day.  In  all  these  productions  of  art 
the  emotional  and  passionate  elements  are  wanting 
which  are  to  be  found  in  the  older  prophetic  writings, 
and  which  Haggai  himself  still  knew  how  to  preserve. 
Just  as  religion  since  Deuteronomy  had  become  a 
book-religion,  so  now  prophecy  became  purely  literary 
in  form.  The  thought  of  a  personal  and  direct  in- 
fluence has  totally  disappeared. 

The  altered  relation  of  the  prophet  towards  God 
is  also  noteworthy.  Whilst  the  older  prophets  feel 
themselves  to  be  completely  one  with  God,  who  is 
ever  present  and  living  in  them,  God  now  grows  more 
and  more  transcendent ;  the  direct  personal  inter- 
course of  the  prophet  with  God  ceases ;  an  angel  steps 
in  between,  who  communes  with  him  as  an  intermediary. 


THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  CAPTIVITY.  153 

Zechariah  has  at  his  disposal  a  rich  and  lively  fantasy, 
and  his  book  is  highly  interesting  and  in  its  kind  ex- 
cellent; but  it  is  nevertheless  a  clear  witness  of  the 
growing  deterioration  of  prophecy. 

Especially  typical  of  the  conceptions  of  the  time 
is  the  first  of  his  visions.  A  man  stands  among  myrtle 
trees,  to  whom  come  four  apocalyptical  riders  on  four 
horses  of  different  colors.  These  horseman  have  been 
sent  to  walk  to  and  fro  through  the  earth  and  bring 
news  of  what  takes  place.  And  they  answer  and  say  : 
**We  have  walked  to  and  fro  through  the  earth,  and 
behold,  all  the  earth  sitteth  still  and  is  at  rest."  Then 
the  angel  who  explains  the  vision  to  the  prophet  ex- 
claims:  "O  Lord  of  hosts,  how  long  wilt  thou  not 
have  mercy  on  Jerusalem  and  on  the  cities  of  Judah, 
against  which  thou  hast  had  indignation  these  three- 
score and  ten  years  ?  " 

From  the  revolution,  from  the  overthrow  of  all  ex- 
isting circumstances,  Israel  expects  the  realisation  of 
its  hopes  of  the  future,  the  destruction  of  the  king- 
doms of  this  world  and  the  foundation  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  The  events  of  the  world  were  followed  with 
anxious  curiosity;  whenever  a  storm  gathered  on  the 
political  horizon,  men  believed  they  saw  in  it  the 
signs  of  the  great  future.  Thus  was  this  unrestful  and 
critical  period  of  the  Persian  empire  a  time  of  great 
exitement  among  the  Jews,  and  was  looked  upon  by 
them  all  in  the  same  way.  We  learn  from  Zechariah 
the  remarkable  fact  that  the  Jews  who  had  remained 


154  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

behind  in  Babylon  sent  at  this  time  a  golden  crown 
to  Jerusalem  to  be  worn  by  Zerubbabel  as  the  future 
Messiah  King.  It  is  the  electrification,  so  to  speak, 
of  an  atmosphere  heavy  with  storm,  which  we  feel  in 
the  Book  of  Zechariah. 

But  all  hopes  were  in  vain.  Darius  proved  him- 
self equal  to  the  situation ;  the  Persian  empire  stood 
firmer  than  ever,  and  all  remained  as  before.  In  the 
meanwhile  the  building  of  the  temple  made  rapid  pro- 
gress ;  the  Satrap  of  the  province,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Euphrates,  to  which  Judah  belonged,  named 
Tatnai,  asked  officially  for  orders.  Darius  expressly 
permitted  the  completion  and  also  promised  state-aid. 
The  Satrap  Tatnai  took  the  matter  up,  and  on  the 
third  day  of  March,  515,  the  new  temple  was  com- 
pleted after  four  and  a  half  years'  work. 


EZRA  AND  NEHEMIAH. 


LET  us  consider,  now,  the  feelings  with  which  the 
Jewish  people  regarded  this  new  temple  of  their 
God.  Elated  they  were  not,  they  could  not  be.  On 
the  contrary  they  must  have  felt  deeply  depressed,  for 
in  a  certain  measure  they  had  been  disappointed  in 
all  their  hopes.  The  worst  of  all  was  not  that  this 
new  temple  in  no  way  rivalled  the  magnificence  and 
splendor  of  the  old  temple  of  Solomon.  A  still  heavier 
sorrow  weighed  down  their  hearts.  God  had  broken 
his  word,  had  not  fulfilled  his  promises,  had  aban- 
doned his  people.  What  had  not  the  prophets  fore- 
told, as  destined  to  happen  after  the  Babylonian  cap- 
tivity? What  brilliant  images  had  they  not  drawn  of 
the  future  Israel  and  the  new  Jerusalem?  Deutero- 
Isaiah  especially  had  forced  these  hopes  to  the  top- 
most pitch,  and  a  reaction  could  not  fail  to  take  place, 
— a  reaction  of  the  saddest  and  most  painful  kind. 
When  the  reality  was  compared  with  the  gorgeous 
predictions  of  the  prophets,  the  effect  must  have  been 
overpowering. 


156  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

What  change  had  taken  place?  None.  The  Per- 
sians had  taken  the  place  of  the  Babylonians,  but  the 
Gentile  power  remained  as  formidable  as  ever.  Re- 
turned to  the  old  land  of  their  fathers,  they  had  to 
struggle  hard  for  existence ;  the  conditions  of  life  were 
extremely  meagre  ;  only  a  very  small  part  of  Jerusalem 
had  been  rebuilt,  a  wretched,  unfortified  country-town 
with  an  indigent  population,  not  even  the  shadow  of 
what  it  once  had  been,  which  in  the  fantasy  of  this 
posthumous  generation  assumed  ever  more  brilliant 
colors.  And  this  God  who  had  not  kept  his  prom- 
ise, who  had  in  no  way  shown  his  power,  demanded 
yet  more  at  their  hands.  He  called  for  a  costl}^  cultus 
and  ritual,  and  a  mode  of  life  governed  by  the  harshest 
laws.  Was  it  not  then  better  to  become  even  as  the 
Gentiles,  whose  power  flourished  unabated  and  who 
enjoyed  unbounded  happiness?  Thus  must  disappoint- 
ment and  bitterness  have  filled  the  hearts  of  the  Jews, 
and  showed  itself  in  indifference  or  even  in  enmity 
towards  this  deceitful,  powerless  Deity.  And  that  these 
moods  gradually  did  gain  possession  of  the  majority  of 
the  people  in  Jerusalem  and  Judaea,  and  that  particu- 
larly the  leading  men  and  priests  were  dominated  by 
them,  we  have  classic  proof  in  a  book  of  prophecy 
written  fifty  years  after  Zechariah,  and  known  to  us 
as  Malachi.  Malachi  describes  to  us  most  faithfully 
the  temper  of  the  Jews  who  had  strayed  from  God, 
and  who  sought  through  careless  indifference  or  frivo- 
lous mockery  to  disregard  the  misery  of  their  time. 


EZRA  AND  NE  HE  MIA  H.  157 

'^  Ye  have  wearied  the  Lord  with  your  words.  Yet 
ye  say,  Wherein  have  we  wearied  him?  In  that  ye 
say,  Every  one  that  doeth  evil  is  good  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord  and  he  delighteth  in  them  ;  else,  where  is 
the  God  of  judgment  ?  .  .  .  Your  words  have  been  stout 
against  me,  saith  the  Lord.  Yet  ye  say.  Wherein  have 
we  spoken  against  thee?  Ye  have  said,  It  is  vain  to 
serve  God  :  and  what  profit  is  it  that  we  have  kept  his 
charge,  and  that  we  have  walked  mournfully  before 
the  Lord  Zebaoth  ?  And  now  must  we  call  the  proud 
happy  ;  yea,  they  that  work  wickedness  are  built  up  j 
yea,  they  tempt  God  and  are  delivered." 

And  how  in  such  moods  religious  duties  were  per- 
formed, Malachi  relates  most  drastically  : 

''A  son  honoureth  his  father,  and  a  servant  his 
master  :  but  if  I  be  a  father  where  is  my  honour?  and 
if  I  be  a  master,  where  is  my  fear?  saith  the  Lord  Ze- 
baoth unto  you,  O  priests,  that  despise  my  name.  And 
ye  sa}^.  Wherein  have  we  despised  thy  name?  Ye  offer 
polluted  bread  upon  mine  altar  .  .  .  thinking,  The  ta- 
ble of  the  Lord  is  contemptible.  And  when  ye  offer 
the  blind  for  sacrifice  it  is  no  evil,  and  when  ye  offer 
the  lame  and  sick,  it  is  no  evil.  Present  it  now  unto 
thy  governor;  will  he  be  pleased  with  thee?  or  show 
thee  favour  ?  ...  Ye  have  brought  the  blind,  the  lame, 
and  the  sick  :  thus  ye  bring  the  offering  :  should  I  ac- 
cept this  of  your  hand?  saith  the  Lord.  Cursed  be 
the  deceiver  which  hath  in  his  flock  a  male  beast  that 
he  has  vowed,  but  sacrificeth  unto  the  Lord  a  blem- 


1 58  THE  PR  OPHE  TS  OF  I  SKA  EL . 

ished  thing  ;  for  I  am  a  great  King,  saith  the  Lord  Ze- 
baoth,  and  my  name  is  honoured  among  the  nations." 

On  the  other  hand,  Malachi  lays  great  stress  upon 
the  judgment,  which  is  sure  to  come,  and  which  will 
show  that  devotion  and  fear  of  God  are  not  empty 
dreams.  But  first,  God  must  cause  a  purifying  and 
refining  of  his  people  to  take  place,  and  will  send  Eli- 
jah, the  prophet,  for  this  purpose,  prior  to  the  coming 
of  the  great  and  dreadful  day. 

We  cast  here  a  glance  into  an  exceedingly  momen- 
tous crisis.  Should  such  moods  gain  full  sway,  should 
they  succeed  in  laying  hold  of  the  whole  people,  then 
there  was  an  end  of  Judah  and  of  religion.  But  Ma- 
lachi speaks  of  men  who  fear  the  Lord,  who  are  in- 
scribed in  God's  remembrance-book,  of  a  party,  who 
in  opposition  to  those  moods  and  strivings  clung  all 
the  more  closely  to  the  despised  and  rejected  religion. 
These  did  not  deny  the  events  and  causes  on  which 
this  indifference  and  scepticism  were  based,  but  drew 
from  them  quite  different  conclusions. 

*'The  proud  and  they  that  work  wickedness,"  as 
Malachi  terms  them,  sought  to  lay  the  blame  of  the 
non-fulfilment  of  the  hoped  for  prophecies  on  God, 
who  either  could  not  or  would  not  perform  them  ;  the 
devout  lay  the  blame  on  themselves.  They  did  not 
ask  what  it  was  incumbent  on  God  to  do,  but  what 
they  should  and  could  have  done.  It  was  foolishness 
and  sin  to  doubt  God's  omnipotence.  If  he  had  not 
performed  his  promise,  he  had  been  unable  to  do  sq 


EZRA  AND  NEHEMIAH.  159 

because  of  Israel  itself :  the  nation  was  not  yet  fully 
worthy  of  its  great  future.  Therefore,  they  must  strive 
to  repair  their  shortcoming  by  redoubled  piety.  This 
is  the  legalism  and  the  '* salvation  by  works"  of  the 
later  Judaism. 

We  shall  never  rightly  understand,  nor  rightly 
value  this  tendency,  until  we  thoroughly  comprehend 
its  origin.  That  origin  was  the  Messianic  hope.  Is- 
rael lives  entirely  in  the  future,  entirely  in  hope,  and 
is  determined  to  leave  nothing  undone  to  hasten  that 
future  ;  it  will,  so  to  speak,  wrest  it  from  God,  compel 
him  to  perform  his  promises,  by  sweeping  away  the 
only  impediment  to  their  fulfilment. 

But  this  little  band  of  devout  men  in  Jerusalem 
could  not  have  brought  about  of  themselves  the  triumph 
of  their  intentions  ;  help  was  necessary  from  outside. 
That  help  was  granted,  and  from  Babylon.  The  Jews 
who  had  remained  in  Babylon  had  outstripped  those 
who  had  returned  to  Jerusalem.  An  entire  school  of 
men  had  been  established  there,  who  worked  out  the 
ideas  of  Ezekiel,  and  drew  the  last  conclusions  of  Deu- 
teronomy. The  work  of  this  school  had  found  its  lit- 
erary embodiment  in  the  juridical  parts  of  the  first 
books  of  the  Pentateuch,  usually  known  as  the  funda- 
mental writing,  or  priestly  code,  to  which,  for  ex- 
ample, the  whole  of  the  third  book  of  Moses,  Leviti- 
cus, belongs.  This  is  the  legislation,  which  is  usually 
regarded  as  the  specific  work  of  Moses,  and  which 


i6o  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

naturally  presents  itself  to  our  mind  when  we  speak 

of  Mosaism. 

This  book  was  written  in  Babylon  about  500  B.C., 
and  was  regarded  there  as  important  and  sacred. 
The  hour  was  soon  to  come  in  which  it  should  ac- 
complish its  mighty  mission.  The  Jews  of  Babylon 
were  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  events  that  hap- 
pened in  Judaea ;  and  thus  the  extremely  serious  turn 
that  matters  were  taking  there  could  not  remain  con- 
cealed from  them.  They  determined  on  taking  an  ac- 
tive part.  Ezra,  a  near  relative  of  the  high-priest's 
family  of  Jerusalem,  and  sprung  from  the  same  tribe, 
placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  undertaking.  He 
obtained  from  the  Persian  king,  Artaxerxes  (Long- 
hand), a  decree  giving  him  full  power  to  reform  mat- 
ters in  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  '^  according  to  the  book 
of  the  law  of  God,  which  was  in  his  hand  "  (that  is, 
the  so-called  priestly  code). 

On  the  1 2th  of  April,  458,  the  Jews  left  Babylon 
and  arrived  in  Jerusalem  on  the  first  day  of  August. 
They  numbered  about  1700  men;  the  figure  of  the 
women  and  children  is  not  given.  Ezra  found  matters 
in  Jerusalem  to  be  far  worse  and  more  comfortless 
than  he  had  feared.  Nevertheless,  he  began  his  work 
of  reformation,  but  had  to  quit  the  field  owing  to  the 
violent  and  bitter  resistance  which  he  met  with,  till 
thirteen  years  later  a  man  after  his  own  heart,  Nehe- 
miah,  a  Babylonian  Jew  who  had  attained  the  position 
of  favorite  and  cup-bearer  to  King  Artaxerxes,  begged 


EZRA  AND  NE  HE  MI  AH.  i6i 

for  the  post  of  Persian  governor  of  Judaea,  which  had 
become  vacant.  And  now  the  strong  arm  of  the  law 
was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  work  of  reform,  and 
both  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  took  up  with  vigor  and  zeal 
the  neglected  task.  In  October,  444,  a  great  gather- 
ing of  the  people  was  held.  Here  the  nation  bound 
itself  by  oath  to  Ezra's  book  of  the  law,  as  it  had  done 
177  years  previously  under  Josiah  to  Deuteronomy. 
Still  many  a  hard  and  bitter  struggle  was  to  be  fought, 
but  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  carried  their  cause  through, 
and  broke  down  all  opposition.  Those  who  could  not 
adapt  themselves  to  the  new  condition  of  affairs,  left 
the  country  to  escape  in  foreign  lands  the  compulsion 
of  the  law. 

These  events  are  of  immeasurable  importance  and 
of  uncommon  interest.  Through  them  Judaism  was 
definitively  established.  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  are  its 
founders. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied,  much  less  concealed,  that 
this  Judaism  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  displays  few  en- 
gaging traits.  If  soon  after  its  establishment  we  no- 
tice that  the  Jew  is  everywhere  an  object  of  hatred  and 
distrust,  the  fact  is  owing  to  the  distinctive  stamp  of 
his  religion.  When  the  Jew  cut  himself  off  brusquely 
and  contemptuously  from  all  non-Jews,  when  all  men 
who  did  not  belong  to  his  religious  community  were 
for  him  but  heathens,  unclean  persons  with  whom  he 
could  not  eat,  or  even  come  in  contact,  without  thereby 
becoming  himself  unclean,  when  he  appeared  before 


i62  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

them  with  the  pretension  of  alone  being  the  good  man, 
the  beloved  of  God,  whilst  all  others  had  only  anger 
and  destruction  to  expect  at  God's  hand,  and  when  he 
thirsted  for  this  as  the  final  object  of  his  most  fervent 
wishes  and  his  devoutest  hopes,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered that  he  did  not  reap  love,  but  that  the  heathens 
retorted  with  direst  hatred  and  detestation.  Here, 
too,  we  will  recall  to  mind  the  picture  which  Deutero- 
Isaiah  drew  of  Israel,  where,  as  the  servant  of  God,  it 
is  despised  and  contemned  for  the  welfare  of  the  earth. 
That  the  development  of  Judaism  took  this  special 
direction  was  a  necessity  of  the  history  of  religion. 

For  the  heaviest  struggle  of  Judaism  still  awaited 
it ;  the  struggle  against  Hellenism.  One  hundred  and 
twenty-five  years  after  Ezra,  Alexander  the  Great  de- 
stroyed the  Persian  empire  and  made  the  Greeks  the 
sovereign  people  of  the  Eastern  world.  Through  this 
a  profound  transformation  was  begun,  which  spread 
with  startling  rapidity  and  irresistible  might,  and  led 
finally  to  the  denationalising  of  the  East.  That  which 
the  Assyrians  had  undertaken  by  brute  force,  the  Hel- 
lenes surmounted  by  the  superior  power  of  mind  and 
culture.  Greece  destroyed  the  nationalities  of  the 
East  by  amalgamating  them  with  itself  and  conquer- 
ing them  inwardly.  Only  one  Eastern  nation  with- 
stood the  process  of  dissolution,  yea,  more,  absorbed 
into  itself  the  good  of  Hellenism,  and  thus  enriched 
and  strengthened  its  own  existence ;  and  that  was  the 
Jewish.     If  it  were  able  to  do  this,  it  was  because  Ezra 


EZRA  AND  NEHEMIAH.  163 

and  Nehemiah  had  rendered  it  hard  as  steel  and  strong 
as  iron.  In  this  impenetrable  armor  it  was  insured 
against  all  attacks,  and  thus  saved  religion  against 
Hellenism.  And  therefore  it  behooves  us  to  bless  the 
prickly  rind,  to  which  alone  we  owe  it,  that  the  noble 
core  remained  preserved. 


THE  LATER  PROPHETS. 


THE  narrow  Judaising  tendency  of  Ezra  and  Ne- 
hemiah  must  have  exercised  a  fatal  influence  on 
prophecy,  as  the  issue  soon  proved.  The  next  pro- 
phetic book  is  that  of  Joel,  which  some  people  in  con- 
sequence of  an  almost  inconceivable  confusion  of  ideas 
still  declare  to  be  the  oldest  of  all.  Few  results  of  Old 
Testament  research  are  as  surely  determined  and  as 
firmly  established  as  that  the  Book  of  Joel  dates  from 
the  century  between  Ezra  and  Alexander  the  Great. 

In  Joel  for  the  first  time  that  distinctive  note  is 
wanting  which  in  all  the  older  prophetic  writings  with- 
out exception,  from  Amos  to  Malachi,  was  the  chief 
concern  of  the  prophets,  namely,  censure,  constant 
reference  to  the  sins  of  Israel.  Joel  describes  Israel 
as  devout  and  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God  ;  all  is  as  it 
should  be.  In  the  regularly  and  conscientiously  con- 
ducted ritual  of  the  Temple,  Israel  has  the  guarantee 
of  the  grace  of  God  ;  the  most  beauteous  promises  are 
held  out  to  it,  while  the  heathen  will  be  destroyed  by 
God  and  his  angels  as  the  harvest  is  cut  down  by  the 


THE  LATER  PROPHETS.  165 

sickle  and  grapes  trampled  in  the  press ;  and  more- 
over, the  Jews  shall  turn  their  '^ploughshares  into 
swords  and  their  pruning-hooks  into  spears."  The 
celebrated  pouring-out  of  the  spirit  will  affect  only 
Jewish  flesh  ;  the  Gentiles  shall  no  longer  be  consid- 
ered. 

The  small  Book  of  Obadiah,  written  probably  at  an 
earlier  date,  has  the  same  aims;  it  is  the  revision  of 
an  older  prophecy  concerning  Edom,  already  known 
to  Jeremiah.  To  this  book  are  appended  the  hopes 
and  expectations  of  the  time. 

The  next  great  universal  catastrophe,  however,  was 
to  find  a  more  joyful  echo  in  prophecy.  This  was  the 
destruction  of  the  Persian  empire  through  Alexander 
the  Great.  The  extremely  remarkable  coherent  frag- 
ment, which  we  now  read  as  Chapters  24  to  27  of  the 
Book  of  Isaiah,  dates,  according  to  sure  indications, 
from  this  time.  We  again  find  in  this  a  reflexion  of 
the  old  prophetic  spirit.  The  dissolution  of  the  whole 
earth  and  the  judgment  passed  upon  its  inhabitants  is 
the  chief  theme.  But  this  dissolution  is  thoroughly 
justified  through  the  sinfulness  of  the  world,  and  there, 
as  in  Kaulbach's  Hunnenschlacht  (the  battle  of  the 
Huns),  the  decisive  struggle  takes  place,  not  on  earth, 
but  on  high.  God  conquers  the  host  of  the  high  ones  ; 
takes  them  prisoners,  and  shuts  them  up  for  many  days 
in  the  prison.  Israel  itself  takes  no  part  in  the  struggle ; 
it  merely  waits  on  God  as  a  psalm-singing  community, 
and  receives  this  command  : 


1 66  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

'*  Come,  my  people,  enter  thou  into  thy  chambers, 
and  shut  thy  doors  about  thee  ;  hide  thyself  for  a  Httle 
moment,  until  the  indignation  be  overpast.  For  be- 
hold, the  Lord  cometh  forth  out  of  his  place  to  punish 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  for  their  iniquity." 

The  final  object  of  this  judgment  is  the  conversion 
of  the  earth.  Even  the  imprisoned  spirits  will  be  par- 
doned, when  they  have  lived  out  the  time  of  their 
punishment. 

"With  my  soul  have  I  desired  thee  in  the  night; 
yea,  with  my  spirit  within  me  will  I  seek  thee  early : 
for  when  thy  judgments  are  in  the  earth,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  world  learn  righteousness.  Let  favor  be 
shewed  to  the  wicked,  yet  will  he  not  learn  righteous- 
ness :  in  the  land  of  uprightness  will  he  deal  wrong- 
fully, and  will  not  behold  the  majesty  of  the  Lord." 

Then  will  God  prepare  on  Mount  Zion  a  great 
feast  for  all  the  converted  nations  and  will  destroy 
the  face  of  the  covering  that  is  cast  over  all  people 
and  the  veil  that  is  spread  over  all  nations,  and  the 
kingdom  of  peace  shall  begin,  whose  walls  and  bul- 
wark are  salvation.  Only  Moab  will  be  excluded  from 
this  general  salvation,  and  its  destruction  is  described 
in  revolting  imagery — and  thus  we  find  again  in  this 
usually  pure  blood  a  drop  of  poison. 

The  most  remarkable  of  all  in  this  fragment  is, 
that  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  here  appears  for  the 
first  time  as  a  postulate  of  faith,  though  indeed  only 
the  resurrection  of  the  pious   Israelites.     Now,   this 


THE  LATER  PROPHETS.  167 

postulate,  too,  takes  its  origin  in  the  Messianic  hypoth- 
eses. Among  the  devout  dead  is  many  a  martyr,  who 
has  suffered  death  for  his  God  and  his  faith.  Are  these, 
who  deserve  it  before  all  others,  to  be  excluded  from 
the  glory  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah?  The  justice  of 
God  demands  that  they  shall  rise  again  from  the  dead. 
Moreover,  the  living  Jews  are  far  too  few  to  become 
in  reality  the  sovereign  and  dominant  people  in  the 
Messianic  kingdom  ;  to  fill  up  this  want,  all  the  devout 
Jews  who  have  previously  departed  must  live  again. 
An  enlivening  dew  sent  by  God  shall  drop  upon  these 
mouldering  bones,  the  dead  arise  again,  and  the  earth 
give  back  the  departed  spirits. 

We  find  in  single  sentences  of  these  four  chapters 
much  that  is  beautiful  and  deep.  They  show  upon  the 
whole  a  magnificent  picture,  which  shines  all  the  more 
brightly,  when  compared  with  the  production  which 
dates  next  in  point  of  time. 

This  is  the  fragment  which  we  now  read  as  Chap- 
ters 9  to  14  of  the  Book  of  Zechariah.  It  dates  from 
the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  from  the  time  of 
the  struggles  of  the  Diadochi,  when  it  certainly  seemed 
as  if  the  dominion  of  the  Greeks  established  by  Alexan- 
der the  Great  would  fall  to  pieces.  This  fragment  marks 
the  lowest  degradation  of  the  prophetic  literature  of 
Israel.  The  fantasy  of  the  writer  positively  wades  in 
the  blood  of  the  Gentiles ;  their  flesh  shall  consume 
away  while  they  stand  upon  their  feet,  their  eyes  shall 
consume  away  in  their  sockets,  and  their  tongues  in 


i68  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

their  mouths,  while  the  sons  of  Zion,  whom  God  has 
aroused  against  the  Greeks,  will  drink  their  blood  like 
wine  and  be  filled  with  it  like  bowls  at  the  corners  of 
the  altar.  Jerusalem  alone  shall  remain  grand  and 
sublime,  and  even  the  bells  of  the  horses  and  every  pot 
shall  be  holy  unto  the  Lord.  The  remaining  heathen 
will  indeed  turn  to  God,  but  how  shall  this  conversion 
show  itself  ?  By  eating  kosher  (i.  e.  after  the  manner 
of  the  Jews)  and  by  going  up  every  year  to  Jerusalem 
to  keep  the  feast  of  tabernacles. 

It  is  impossible  to  turn  the  mind  of  an  Amos  or  a 
Hosea,  of  an  Isaiah  or  a  Jeremiah,  into  a  worse  carica- 
ture than  is  done  here.  The  unknown  author  of  this 
fragment  in  the  Book  of  Zechariah  will  not  even  be  a 
prophet :  we  find  a  very  remarkable  passage  in  this 
fragment,  which  shows  that  men  distinctly  felt  that 
prophecy  was  at  an  end,  and  that  the  prophetic  in- 
spiration in  Israel  was  dying  out. 

''And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  said  the 
Lord  Zebaoth,  that  I  will  cut  off  the  names  of  the 
idols  out  of  the  land,  and  they  shall  no  more  be  re- 
membered :  and  also  I  will  cause  the  prophets  and  the 
unclean  spirits  to  come  out  of  the  land.  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  that  when  any  shall  yet  prophesy,  then 
his  father  and  his  mother  that  begat  him  shall  say  unto 
him :  Thou  shalt  not  live,  for  thou  speakest  lies  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord :  and  his  father  and  his  mother  that 
begat  him  shall  thrust  him  through  when  he  prophe- 
sieth.     And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the 


THE  LATER  PROPHETS.  169 

prophets  shall  be  ashamed  every  one  of  his  vision, 
when  he  hath  prophesied  ;  neither  shall  they  wear  a 
hairy  mantle  to  deceive  :  but  he  shall  say,  I  am  no 
prophet,  I  am  an  husbandman  ;  the  field  is  my  posses- 
sion and  my  trade  from  my  youth  up.  And  if  one  shall 
say  unto  him.  What  are  these  wounds  thou  bearest? 
he  shall  answer,  ...  I  was  wounded  in  the  house  of 
my  friends." 

The  prophets  deceivers  of  the  people,  who  must  be 
put  to  death,  prophetic  inspiration  an  unclean  spirit, 
put  on  the  same  level  with  idols — what  a  change,  what 
a  transition!  Here  we  have  the  whole  difference  be- 
tween Israel  and  Judaism. 

Nevertheless  the  prophetic  genius  of  Israel  had 
not  yet  utterly  died  out ;  it  had  still  sufficient  health 
and  strength  to  enter  a  strong  protest  against  this 
caricature  of  itself,  and  to  pronounce  upon  it  the  sen- 
tence of  its  condemnation.  This  is  the  special  and 
lasting  significance  of  the  little  book,  which  we  must 
look  upon  as  the  last  of  the  prophetic  literature,  the 
Book  of  Jonah. 


JONAH  AND  DANIEL. 


AN  INVOLUNTARY  smile  passes  over  one's  fea- 
-  tures  at  the  mention  of  the  name  of  Jonah.  For 
the  popular  conception  sees  nothing  in  this  Book  but 
a  silly  tale,  exciting  us  to  derision.  Whenever  shallow 
humor  prompts  people  to  hold  the  Old  Testament  up 
to  ridicule  Balaam's  ass  and  Jonah's  whale  infallibly 
take  precedence. 

I  have  read  the  Book  of  Jonah  at  least  a  hundred 
times,  and  I  will  publicly  avow,  for  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  my  weakness,  that  I  cannot  even  now  take  up  this 
marvellous  book,  nay,  nor  even  speak  of  it,  without  the 
tears  rising  to  my  eyes,  and  my  heart  beating  higher. 
This  apparently  trivial  book  is  one  of  the  deepest  and 
grandest  that  was  ever  written,  and  I  should  like  to 
say  to  every  one  who  approaches  it,  ''Take  off  thy 
shoes,  for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy 
ground."  In  this  book  Israelitic  prophecy  quits  the 
scene  of  battle  as  victor,  and  as  victor  in  its  severest 
struggle — that  against  self.  In  it  the  prophecy  of  Is- 
rael succeeded,  as  Jeremiah  expresses  it  in  a  remark- 


JONAH.  171 

able  and  well-known  passage,  in  freeing  the  precious 
from  the  vile  and  in  finding  its  better  self  again. 

The  Jonah  of  this  book  is  a  prophet,  and  a  genuine 
representative  of  the  prophecy  of  the  time,  a  man  like 
unto  that  second  Zechariah,  drunk  with  the  blood  of 
the  heathen,  and  who  could  hardly  await  the  time 
when  God  should  destroy  the  whole  of  the  Gentile 
world.  He  receives  from  God  the  command  to  go  to 
Nineveh  to  proclaim  the  judgment,  but  he  rose  to  flee 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  by  ship  unto  Tartessus 
(Tarshish)  in  the  far  west.  From  the  very  beginning 
of  the  narrative  the  genuine  and  loyal  devotion  of  the 
heathen  seamen  is  placed  in  intentional  and  exceed- 
ingly powerful  contrast  to  the  behavior  of  the  prophet ; 
they  are  the  sincere  believers ;  he  is  the  only  heathen 
on  board.  After  that  Jonah  has  been  saved  from  storm 
and  sea  by  the  fish,  he  again  receives  the  command  to 
go  to  Nineveh.  He  obeys,  and  wonderful  to  relate, 
scarcely  has  the  strange  preacher  traversed  the  third 
part  of  the  city  crying  out  his  warning  than  the  whole 
of  Nineveh  proclaimed  a  fast  and  put  on  sackcloth  ;  the 
people  of  Nineveh  believed  the  words  of  the  preacher 
and  humiliated  themselves  before  God.  Therefore,  the 
ground  and  motive  of  the  divine  judgment  ceased  to 
exist:  **God  repented  of  the  evil  that  He  thought  to 
do  them,  and  He  did  it  not."  Now  comes  the  fourth 
chapter,  on  account  of  which  the  whole  book  was  writ- 
ten, and  which  I  cannot  refrain  from  repeating  word 
for  word,  as  its  simple  and  ingenuous  mode  of  narra- 


172  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

tion  belongs  essentially  to  the  attainment  of  that  mood 
which  is  so  stirring  to  the  heart,  and  cannot  be  re- 
placed by  paraphrase. 

*'  Now  this  (God's  determining  not  to  destroy  Nine- 
veh because  of  its  sincere  repentance)  displeased  Jonah 
exceedingly  and  he  was  very  angry.  And  he  prayed 
unto  the  Lord  and  said,  I  pray  thee,  O  Lord,  was  not 
this  my  saying,  when  I  was  yet  in  my  country?  There- 
fore I  hasted  to  flee  unto  Tarshish  :  for  I  knew  that 
thou  art  a  gracious  God,  and  full  of  compassion,  slow 
to  anger,  and  plenteous  in  mercy,  and  repentest  thee 
of  the  evil.  Therefore,  now,  O  Lord,  take,  I  beseech 
thee,  my  life  from  me  ;  for  it  is  better  for  me  to  die 
than  to  live.  Then  said  the  Lord,  Doest  thou  well  to 
be  angry  ?  Then  Jonah  went  out  of  the  city,  and  sat 
on  the  east  side  of  the  city,  and  there  made  him  a 
booth,  and  sat  under  it  in  the  shadow,  till  he  might 
see  what  would  become  of  the  city.  And  the  Lord 
God  prepared  a  gourd  and  made  it  to  come  up  over 
Jonah,  that  it  might  be  a  shadow  over  his  head.  And 
Jonah  was  exceedingly  glad  of  the  gourd.  But  God 
prepared  a  worm  when  the  morning  rose  the  next 
day,  and  it  smote  the  gourd  that  it  withered.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  when  the  sun  did  arise,  that  God  pre- 
pared a  sultry  east  wind  ;  and  the  sun  beat  upon  the 
head  of  Jonah  that  he  grew  faint,  and  requested  for 
himself  that  he  might  die,  and  said.  It  is  better  for  me 
to  die  than  to  live.  And  God  said  to  Jonah,  Doest  thou 
well  to  be  angry  for  the  gourd?     And  he  said,  I  do 


JONAH.  173 

well  to  be  angry  even  unto  death.  Then  said  the  Lord, 
Thou  hast  had  pity  on  the  gourd,  for  the  which  thou 
hast  not  labored,  neither  madest  it  grow;  which  came 
up  in  a  night  and  perished  in  a  night.  And  should 
not  I  have  pity  on  Nineveh,  that  great  city,  wherein 
are  more  than  six  score  thousand  persons  that  cannot 
discern  between  their  right  hand  and  their  left  hand  ; 
and  also  much  cattle?  " 

With  this  question  closes  the  last  book  of  the  pro- 
phetic literature  of  Israel.  More  simply,  as  something 
quite  self-evident,  and  therefore  more  sublimely  and 
touchingly,  the  truth  was  never  spoken  in  the  Old 
Testament,  that  God,  as  Creator  of  the  whole  earth, 
must  also  be  the  God  and  father  of  the  entire  world, 
in  whose  loving,  kind,  and  fatherly  heart  all  men  are 
equal,  before  whom  there  is  no  difference  of  nation  and 
confession,  but  only  men,  whom  He  has  created  in  his 
own  image.  Here  Hosea  and  Jeremiah  live  anew. 
The  unknown  author  of  the  Book  of  Jonah  stretches 
forth  his  hand  to  these  master  hearts  and  intellects. 
In  the  celestial  harmony  of  the  infinite  Godly  love  and 
of  the  infinite  Godly  pity,  the  Israelitic  prophecy  rings 
out  as  the  most  costly  bequest  of  Israel  to  the  whole 
world. 

I  have  spoken  as  if  with  the  Book  of  Jonah  the 
prophetic  literature  of  Israel  had  come  to  an  end,  and 
occasioned  thereby  no  doubt  considerable  surprise. 
For  up  to  the  present  no  mention  has  been  made  of  a 
book  which  ranks  among  the  best  known,  or,  to  speak 


174  ^^^^  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

more  accurately,  among  those  of  whose  existence  we 
know  something — namely,  the  Book  of  Daniel.  Daniel 
in  the  den  of  the  lions,  the  three  men  in  the  fiery  fur- 
nace, the  feast  of  Belshazzar  with  the  Mene  Tekel,  the 
colossus  with  the  feet  of  clay,  are  all  well  known,  and 
have  become,  so  to  speak,  household  words.  Surely,  the 
reception  of  such  a  book  into  the  prophetic  literature 
cannot  be  disputed  !  Yet  I  must  remark  that  accord- 
ing to  the  Jewish  canon  this  book  is  never  reckoned 
among  the  prophetic  writings.  This  was  first  done 
by  the  Greek  Bible,  and  thus  it  became  the  custom 
throughout  the  whole  Christian  Church  to  designate 
Daniel  together  with  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Ezekiel  as 
the  four  great  prophets,  in  contradistinction  to  the  so- 
called  twelve  minor  prophets. 

It  would  take  me  too  long  to  explain  the  reasons 
which  induced  the  Synagogue  to  enter  upon  this 
apparently  strange  proceeding.  However,  I  cannot 
withdraw  from  my  plain  duty  of  including  the  Book  of 
Daniel  in  my  comments  upon  the  Israelitic  prophecies. 
And  it  well  deserves  consideration  ;  for  it  is  one  of  the 
most  important  and  momentous  that  was  ever  written. 
We  still  work  with  conceptions  and  employ  expressions 
which  are  derived  immediately  from  the  Book  of  Daniel. 
The  entire  hierarchy  of  heaven,  with  the  four  arch- 
angels, the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
the  idea  of  a  kingdom  of  heaven,  the  designation  of 
the  Messianic  ruler  in  this  kingdom  as  the  Son  of  Man, 
are  found  mentioned  for  the  first  time  in  the  Book  of 


DANIEL.  175 

Daniel.  The  Book  of  Daniel  dates  from  the  last  great 
crisis  in  the  history  of  the  religion  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  the  most  important  and  difficult  of  all — its 
life-and-death  struggle  with  Hellenism. 

In  the  year  333  B.  C,  through  the  great  victory  at 
Issus,  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  Alexander  the  Great,  who  thereupon  imme- 
diately turned  his  attention  to  the  conquest  of  Syria, 
Phoenicia,  and  Palestine.  Thus  Judaea  came  under 
the  Grecian  sway.  When,  in  the  year  323,  Alexander 
died,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four,  the  long  struggles  and 
strife  of  the  Diadochi  ensued,  who  fought  for  the  in- 
heritance of  the  dead  monarch.  The  battle  of  Ipsus, 
301,  put  an  end  to  these  dissensions.  Out  of  the 
great  universal  empire  founded  by  Alexander  four  Hel- 
lenistic kingdoms  arose  :  Macedonia,  the  parent  coun- 
try, which  was  lost  to  the  house  of  Alexander  after 
unspeakable  atrocities,  the  Pergamenian  kingdom  of 
the  Attalidae,  the  Syrian  kingdom  of  the  Seleucidae, 
and  the  Egyptian  of  the  Ptolemies. 

Judaea  and  Coelesyria  were  annexed  to  the  kingdom 
of  the  Ptolemies,  and  remained  an  Egyptian  province 
for  over  a  hundred  years.  And  the  first  half  of  this 
period,  outwardly  viewed,  was  the  happiest  that  Judaea 
had  experienced  since  the  loss  of  its  independence. 
The  three  first  Ptolemies  were  powerful  and  talented 
rulers,  who  were  extremely  prepossessed  in  favor  of 
the  Jews  and  supported  and  encouraged  them  in  every 
way,  because,  as  Josephus  tells  us,  the  Jews  were  the 


176  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

only  people  on  whose  oath  they  could  implicitly  rely; 
what  a  Jew  had  once  sworn  he  abided  by  without  de- 
viation. 

Soon,  however,  the  complications  of  war  arose.  The 
Seleucidae  stretched  out  their  hands  covetously  towards 
the  province  of  Egypt,  and  after  varying  conflicts  it 
was  finally  incorporated  in  the  year  ig8  in  the  king- 
dom of  Syria.  At  first  the  Jews  seemed  to  have  hailed 
the  new  government  with  delight,  but  the  Syrian  domi- 
nation was  soon  to  show  itself  in  all  its  terribleness. 
Antiochus  IV.,  Epiphanes,  a  man  of  violent  temper 
and  limited  ideas,  was  anxious  to  accelerate  by  violence 
the  process  of  Hellenising,  which  was  already  going  on 
satisfactorily,  and  set  himself  the  task  of  totally  eradi- 
cating, by  the  police  power  of  the  State,  the  Jewish 
nationality  and  the  Jewish  religion.  Then  began  that 
terrible  persecution  of  the  orthodox  Jews,  which  the 
Book  of  Maccabees  describes  on  the  whole  correctly, 
though  with  some  exaggerations.  Antiochus,  how- 
ever, only  aided  thereby  the  holy  cause  against  which 
he  fought ;  he  shook  the  righteous  from  their  slum- 
bers, forced  the  wavering  to  decision,  and  thus  gave 
to  Judaism  the  last  blow  of  the  hammer  which  was  to 
weld  that  which  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  perhaps  had  not 
sufficiently  forged. 

From  this  date  Judaism  appears  to  us  as  Pharisa- 
ism. Who  knows  whether  without  this  violent  inter- 
ference  matters   would   not   have    taken    a   different 


DANIEL.  177 

course?  We  know  by  unequivocal  evidence  that  Hel- 
lenism had  already  made  vast  strides,  that  especially 
the  cultured  and  aristocratic  circles,  and  even  the 
priesthood,  were  completely  under  its  influence. 

But  this  brutal  attack  aroused  the  opposition  of 
despair.  The  Jewish  people  carried  on  the  struggle 
thus  forced  upon  them  with  almost  superhuman  efforts. 
The  mightiest  Greek  armies  fled  in  dismay  before  the 
frenzied  courage  of  these  men  battling  for  what  was 
most  sacred  to  them ;  and  they  finally  succeeded  in 
shaking  off  the  heathen  rule,  and  in  once  again  found- 
ing a  national  Jewish  State  under  the  house  of  the 
Maccabees. 

In  the  fiercest  moments  of  this  contest,  in  January, 
164,  we  know  the  very  day  almost,  the  Book  of  Daniel 
was  written,  in  which  the  clear  flame  of  the  first  holy 
inspiration  still  burns.  When  we  picture  to  ourselves 
the  unspeakable  sufferings  of  the  Jewish  nation,  we 
can  only  wonder  with  reverent  admiration  at  the  un- 
known author  of  the  Book  of  Daniel,  who  knew  how 
to  keep  himself  clean  from  all  the  baser  human  national 
passions,  and  only  to  give  enthusiastic  expression  to 
the  final  victory  of  the  cause  of  God.  There  is  the  dif- 
ference of  day  and  night  between  the  Book  of  Daniel 
and  that  of  Esther,  written  but  a  generation  later.  As 
in  Jonah,  so  in  Daniel  Israelitic  prophecy  flared  up- 
wards like  a  bright  flame  for  the  last  time,  to  die  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  its  grand  and  magnificent  past. 


178  THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 

We  have  now  reached  the  end  of  our  task.     We 
have   followed   the   prophecies   of    Israel   from  their 
beginning  to  their  close,  and   I   should  be  glad  if  I 
have  succeeded  in  producing  upon  my  readers  the  im- 
pression that  we  have  been  treating  here  of  the  organic 
development  of  one  of  the   greatest  spiritual  forces 
that   the  history  of  man   has   ever  witnessed,  and  of 
the  most  important  and  most  magnificent  section  of 
the  history  of  religion  previously  to  Christ.     If  Israel 
became  in  the  matter  of  rehgion  the  chosen  people  of 
the  whole  world,  it  owes  this  to  prophecy,  which  first 
clearly  conceived  the  idea  of  a  universal  religion,  and 
estabHshed  it  in  all  its  foundations.     Prophecy  lived 
again  in  John  the  Baptist.     And  Jesus  of  Nazareth  in 
contrast  to  the  pharisaical  Judaism  of  his  time  pur- 
posely links  his  own  activity  to  the  prophecy  of  ancient 
Israel,  himself  its  purest  blossom  and  noblest  fruit. 
Jewish  prophecy  is  Mary,  the  mother  of  Christianity, 
and  the  Christian  church  has  known  no  better  desig- 
nation for  the  earthly  pilgrimage  of  its  founder  than 
to  speak  of  him  in  his  office  as  prophet.     As  far  as  the 
influence  of  Christianity  extends,  so  far  also  the  effects 
of  the  Israelitic  prophecy  reach,  and  when  the  oldest 
of  the  literary  prophets,  Amos,  speaks  of  prophecy  as 
the  noblest  gift  of  grace,  which  God  gave  to  Israel  and 
only  to  Israel,  a  history  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
years  has  but  justified  his  assertion. 

The  whole  history  of  humanity  has  produced  noth- 
ing which  can  be  compared  in  the  remotest  degree  to 


DANIEL.  17g 

the  prophecy  of  Israel.  Through  prophecy  Israel 
became  the  prophet  of  mankind.  Let  this  never  be 
overlooked  nor  forgotten:  the  costliest  and  noblest 
treasure  that  man  possesses  he  owes  to  Israel  and  to 
Israelitic  prophecy. 


INDEX. 


Aaron,  Moses's  prophet,  lo. 

Abiathar,  high-priest  of  David,  ban- 
ished by  Solomon,  probable  ances- 
tor of  Jeremiah,  92. 

Abraham,  a  historical  character,  16; 
his  religion,  18. 

Admah,  Shall  I  make  thee  as,  52. 

Ahab,  king  of  Israel,  his  conflict  with 
Elijah,  character  and  rule,  29-33; 
his  prophets,  13-30. 

Ahajiah,  son  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel,  30. 

Ahaz,  king  of  Judah,  character,  61-62  ; 
the  voluntary  vassal  of  Tiglath- 
Pileser,  63  ;  his  political  foresight 
and  death,  64. 

Ahijah,  of  Shiloh,  prophet,  28. 

Ahikam,  father  of  Gedaliah,  106. 

Ahura-Mazda,  religion  of  the  Per- 
sians, 145. 

Alexander  the  Great,  attempts  to 
Hellenise  the  Orient,  162-163;  his 
destruction  of  the  Persian  empire 
calls  forth  chapters  24-27  of  the 
Book  of  Isaiah,  165  ;  his  conquest 
of  the  Orient  including  Judaea,  175  ; 
his  death,  175. 

Amasis,  king  of  Egypt,  opposes  Per- 
sia, 146. 

Amaziah,  priest,  repels  Amos,  41. 

Amon,  king  of  Judah,  80. 

Amos,  disclaims  being  a  prophet  of 
the  old  type,  14,  41 ;  on  the  mission 
and  character  of  prophecy,  35,  178  ; 
personality  and  achievements,  37- 
46 ;  reconciliatory  conclusion  of  his 
book,  47,  III. 

Anathoth,  Jeremiah's  birthplace,  92. 

Angels,   employed  by  Zechariah  as 


intermediaries  between  the  proph- 
ets and  God,  152-153. 

Animal-worship,  18,  37,  52. 

Anointed  of  God,  Cyrus  the,  135. 

Antiochus  IV.,  Epiphanes,  attempts 
to  Hellenise  the  Jews  by  force,  but 
is  repulsed,  176-177. 

Apocalyptical  riders,  in  Zechariah, 
153. 

Arabic,  importance  of,  for  Hebrew 
etymology,  9-12. 

Arabs,  obliterate  their  history,  3. 

Aramaic  nationality,  eradicated  by 
the  Assyrians,  109. 

Archangels,  the  four,  derived  from 
Daniel,  174. 

Artaxerxes  (Longimanus),  Persian 
king,  permits  the  reforms  of  Ezra, 
160. 

Aryans,  their  early  civilisation,  6  et 
seq. 

Asp,  The  sucking  child  shall  play  on 
the  hole  of  the,  60. 

Asshur  be  their  king,  51. 

Assyrians,  threaten  Israel,  29,  42; 
Isaiah's  view  of  their  divine  mis- 
sion, 57,  64-66 ;  in  the  zenith  of  their 
glory,  72,  76;  their  oppressive  rule, 
73;  their  customs  and  forms  of  wor- 
ship introduced  into  Judaja,  74-75; 
their  decline  and  downfall,  76,  78, 
79»  99-101 ;  Habakkuk's  descrip- 
tion of,  78 ;  their  use  of  the  exile, 
108. 

Astarte,  Phoenician  goddess,  23. 

Astyages,  king  of  the  Medes,  con- 
quered by  Cyrus,  129. 

Asurbanipal,  Assyrian  king,  72;    his 


l82 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL, 


wars  in  Egypt,  Arabia,  and  Syria, 

73. 
Athaljah,  daughter  of    Jezebel  and 

Ahab,  30. 
Attalidae,  kingdom  of,  175. 

Baal,  prophets  of,  13  ;  proper  inter- 
pretation of  Ahab's  worship  of,  30; 
opposed  by  Elijah,  31;  extirpated 
from  Samaria,  33 ;  forms  and  in- 
fluence of  his  worship  among  the 
Jews,  49,  81,  118,  127. 

Baalim,  They  sacrificed  unto,  51. 

Babylon,  city,  its  grandeur,  112;  its 
fall,  144. 

Babylonian  exile.  See  Exile,  the  Ba- 
bylonian. 

Babylonians,  religion  of,  22-23,  26; 
their  history  and  fall,  128-130,  156. 

Backsliding,  My  people  are  bent  to, 
52. 

Balaam,  his  talking  ass,  170, 

Balance,  weigh  the  hills  in  a,  136. 

Beersheba,  place  of  worship,  26. 

Bells,  of  horses,  holy,  168. 

Belshazzar,  the  feast  of,  174. 

Berosus,  Babylonian  historian,  129. 

Beside  Me,  no  God,  138. 

Bethel,  place  of  worship,  Amos  at 
the  Autumn  festival  of,  37  et  seq.; 
also  26,  52. 

Bird  of  passage,  97. 

Blemished  thing,  sacrifice  not  a,  157. 

Blind  offerings,  157. 

Bowels,  my,  95. 

Brotherly  love,  emphasised  by  Eze- 
kiel,  121. 

Bull,  ancient  symbol  of  the  God  of 
Israel,  37,  52. 

Calves,  the  golden,  of  Dan  and 
Bethel,  126-127;  Hosea's  name  for 
the  bull-symbols  of  God,  52. 

Calvin,  Ezekiel  compared  to,  116 

Cambyses  III.,  king  of  Persia,  sub- 
dues Egypt,  commits  suicide,  149. 

Canaanites,  character  of  the  prophets 
of,  13  ;  child-sacrifice  and  religious 
unchastity  of,  18,  23 ;  forms  and 
places   of  Israelitic  worship  bor- 


rowed from,  26;  their  language 
adopted  by  the  Israelites,  18. 

Caphtor,  Have  I  not  brought  the 
Philistines  from,  43. 

Captivity  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel, 
69,  109.     See  Exile,  the  Babylonian. 

Carchemish,  battle  of,  loi. 

Chaldeans,  predicted  by  Habakkuk 
as  the  destroyers  of  the  Assyrians, 
78 ;  take  Nineveh  and  defeat  the 
Egyptians,  loi ;  their  divine  mis- 
sion, 104;  period  of  their  rule,  127- 
128,  145.     See  Babylonians. 

Charles  the  Great,  his  love  of  pagan 
literature,  3. 

Cherubs,  meaning  of,  21. 

Child-sacrifice  in  Canaan,  18  ;  in  Ju- 
dasa,  74,  75. 

Christ,  erroneous  view  of  prophecy's 
relation  to,  5.     See  Jesus. 

Christianity,  its  relation  to  prophecy, 
178. 

Church  and  state,  the  opposition  of, 
created  by  Deuteronomy,  88-89,  "4' 

Circumcision  of  the  heart,  Jeremiah's, 
97,  98 ;  becomes  circumcision  of 
the  flesh  in  Deutero-Isaiah,  143. 

Clergy,  distinguished  from  the  laity, 
87. 

Cockatrice'  den,  the  weaned  child 
shall  put  his  hand  on,  60. 

Coelesyria,  annexed  by  the  Ptole- 
mies, 175. 

Colossus,  with  the  feet  of  clay,  174. 

Come,  my  people,  enter  thou,  166. 

Comfort  ye,  my  people,  132. 

Commandments,  the  Ten,  when  writ- 
ten, 17. 

Congregation,  religious,  Ezekiel' s 
idea  of  a,  120. 

Copernicus,  4. 

Cords  of  a  man,  with,  51. 

Covenant  of  grace,  God's,  with  Is- 
rael, 106. 

Cultus.     See  Worship. 

Cuneiform  inscriptions,  147, 

Cyrus,  conquers  the  Medes  and 
founds  the  Persian  empire,  129-130; 
named  the  executor  of  God's  judg- 
ment on  Babylon,  God's  shepherd 
and  anointed,  by  Deutero-Isaiah, 


INDEX. 


183 


133-135,  139 ;  takes  Babylon  and 
grants  the  Jews  permission  to  re- 
turn to  Jerusalem,  144-145  ;  reasons 
for  helping  the  Jews,  religious  lib- 
eralism, etc.,  144-147. 
Damascus,  its  struggle  with  Israel, 
29,  39 ;  made  an  Assyrian  province, 

63. 

Dan,  place  of  worship,  26,  52. 

Daniel,  Book  of,  not  reckoned  among 
the  prophetic  writings  by  the  Jew- 
ish canon,  174 ;  its  origin,  charac- 
ter, and  significance,  174-177. 

Dante,  2. 

Darius,  Persian  emperor,  kills  the 
Magus  Gaumata,  reorganises  and 
consolidates  the  Persian  empire, 
149-150,  154. 

Daughter,  meaning  of,  7. 

David,  House  of,  its  rOle  in  the  Mes- 
sianic schemes,  59,  72,  75,  126.  See 
Messiah, 

Day  of  wrath,  etc.,  yy. 

Dead  letter,  substituted  for  the  living 
revelation  by  Deuteronomy,  89. 

Deborah,  prophetess,  song  of,  oldest 
production  of  Israelitic  literature, 
20,  27. 

Delphi,  the  oracle  at,  11. 

Destroy,  I  cannot  come  to,  52. 

Deutero-Isaiah  (=  Chaps.  40-66  of  the 
canonical  book  of  Isaiah),  also 
called  Isaiah,  the  Second,  which 
see. 

Deuteronomy,  its  promulgation,  81- 
83  ;  its  conceptions  and  aims,  83  et 
seq.;  its  reform  of  the  cultus,  83- 
87 ;  its  establishment  of  a  profes- 
sional priesthood,  87-88;  its  crea- 
tion of  the  opposition  of  church 
and  state,  88;  its  introduction  of 
externalism  in  worship,  89  ;  its  tre- 
mendous importance,  82,  8g-go ; 
made  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
kingdom,  82 ;  its  ideas  receive  their 
fullest  development  in  the  Baby- 
lonian exile,  113  ;  saves  Israel  and 
religion,  107;  its  ideas  followed  by 
Ezekiel,  122;  creates  book-religion, 
152;  its  ultimate  conclusions  drawn 
by  the  Babylonian  Jews,  159,  161. 


De  Wette,  his  Old  Testament  re- 
searches, 82-83, III. 

Diadochi,  successors  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  the  struggles  of,  as  in- 
fluencing prophecy  and  the  Jews, 
167,  175. 

Dies  im,  dies  ilia,  taken  from  Zepha- 
niah,  76,  yy. 

Dirge,  Israel's  funeral,  used  by  Amos 
at  the  festival  of  Bethel,  40. 

Divina  Co  media,  2. 

Dodona,  oracle  at,  11. 

Drunken  women,  at  the  Israelitic 
festivals,  38. 

Dschebel  Oscha,  Mount  Hosea,  55. 

Dürer,  Albrecht,  126. 

Dust  to  his  sword,  as,  134. 

Ecbatana,  capital  of  Media,  129. 

Edom,  prophecy  concerning,  165. 

Edomite  king,  burnt  by  the  Moabites, 
46. 

Egypt,  Abraham  in,  16;  its  struggle 
with  Assyria,  65-67,  73,  76;  aids  the 
Jews  against  Nebuchadnezzar,  104; 
under  Amasis,  opposes  Persia,  146; 
subdued  by  Cambyses,  149;  under 
the  Ptolemies  and  the  SeleucidcB, 
175-176  ;  religion  of,  22,  44. 

El,  Semitic  word  for  God,  7. 

Eli,  reproves  the  mother  of  Samuel, 
38. 

Elijah,  prophet,  not  a  native  of  Pal- 
estine, 12;  ecstatic  traits  in,  13-14; 
makes  a  pilgrimage  to  Horeb,  20; 
his  historical  import  and  achieve- 
ments, 29,  36 ;  the  first  truly  Israel- 
itic prophet,  34,  126;  subsequently 
regarded  as  the  forerunner  and  pio- 
neer of  the  Messianic  kingdom,  158. 

Elisha,  prophet,  has  Jehu  anointed 
king,  13  ;  arouses  the  prophetic  in- 
spiration by  means  of  music,  14; 
his  relation  to  Elijah  and  charac- 
ter, 33. 

Eloquent,  I  am  not,  etc.,  10. 

Ephraim,  I  taught,  also  to  walk,  51; 
How  shall  I  give  thee  up  ?  52. 

Equity,  that  pervert  all,  70. 

Esarhaddon,  Assyrian  king,  conquers 
Egypt,  72,  73. 


184 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 


Es-Salt,  55. 

Esther,  the  Book  of,  177. 

Ethbaal,  Jezebel's  father,  30. 

Ethiopians,  are  ye  not  as  the  children 
of,  43- 

Etymology,  significance  for  historical 
research,  6  et  seq. 

Euphrates,  39,  no. 

Evil,  hate  the,  43. 

Evil  Merodach,  Babylonian  king,  129. 

Exile,  first  used  by  the  Assyrians  as 
a  means  of  pacifying  rebellious 
tribes,  108  et  seq. 

Exile,  the  Babylonian,  106;  its  re- 
ligious consequences,  no  et  seq.; 
its  moral  influences,  112;  its  reali- 
sation of  Deuteronomic  ideas,  113  ; 
creates  Judaism,  114  ;  the  literary 
work  of,  consists  of  the  compilation 
of  the  historical  traditions  of  Israel 
and  of  the  establishment  of  a  the- 
odicy, 125-128 ;  intellectual  and  ma- 
terial condition  of  the  Jews  during, 
125-128  ;  the  return  from,  144-149 ; 
religious  condition  of  the  Jews  in 
the  period  succeeding,  155  et  seq. 

Exodus,  quotation  from,  10. 

Externalism,  religious,  introduced  by 
Deuteronomy,  89. 

Eyes,  consume  in  their  sockets,  167. 

Ezekiel,  prophet,  son  of  Buzi,  the 
first  dogmatist  and  theologian  of 
the  Old  Testament,  114,  117;  his 
early  activity,  115;  his  character, 
116-117;  his  leading  ideas,  117  et 
seq.;  his  vindication  of  God,  118, 
126 ;  his  pastoral  care  of  souls 
and  theory  of  the  prophetic  office, 
119-120;  makes  the  Sabbath  the 
fundamental  institution  of  Judaism, 
120-121 ;  emphasises  the  virtue  of 
chastity,  121 ;  his  description  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  and  of  the  new 
Jerusalem,  121-124 ;  founds  the  the- 
ocracy of  the  Jews,  123-124 ;  his 
ideas  worked  out  by  the  Babylon- 
ian Jews,  159. 

Ezra,  reformer  and  founder  of  Juda- 
ism, 160-163. 


Family  life,  its  purity  emphasised  by 
Ezekiel,  121. 

Fat,  make  the  heart  of  this  people,  61. 

Faust,  2. 

Feasts,  old  Israelitic,  23 ;  their  char- 
acter, 37-39;  borrowed  from  the 
Canaanites,  26;  their  transforma- 
tion by  Deuteronomy,  85-87. 

Filth,  Isaiah  applies  this  term  to  the 
Jewish  forms  of  worship,  72. 

Fishes  of  the  sea,  treateth  men  as,  78. 

Flax,  smoking,  shall  he  not  quench, 
142. 

Flower  of  the  field,  as  the,  133. 

Folly,  era  of,  pre-Islamitic,  3. 

Forgive,  I  can  no  longer,  44. 

Fowler,  the  snares  of  the,  54. 

Frederick  Barbarossa,  126. 

Fundamental  writing  [Grundschri/t) 
of  the  Pentateuch,  written  in  Baby- 
lon, the  foundation  of  the  reform 
of  Ezra,  159-160. 

Funeral  dirge,  has  a  special  poetical 
form  in  ancient  Israel,  41. 

Gad,  prophet,  28. 

Gaumata,  the  Magus,  usurps  the 
throne  of  Cambyses,  slain  by  Da- 
rius, 149-150. 

Gedaliah,  first  Babylonian  viceroy  of 
Judah,  slain  by  a  band  of  fanatics, 
106. 

Genesis,  child-sacrifice  in,  18. 

Gentiles,  referred  to,  118,  120,  135; 
their  relations  to  the  Jews,  98,  143; 
their  power  flourishes  unabated, 
156 ;  shall  be  destroyed  by  God, 
167,  168,  171.  See  also  the  proper 
names  of  the  various  heathen  na- 
tions. 

Germans,  their  destruction  of  their 
pagan  literature,  3  ;  delve  into  the 
poetic  treasures  of  their  past,  126. 

God,  etymology  of  the  Hebrew  word 
for,  19  et  seq.;  Elijah's  conception 
of,  31;  idea  of,  in  Amos,  42,  47;  in 
Hosea,  47,  52 ;  in  Isaiah,  57,  66;  in 
Ezekiel,  116-118 ;  in  the  Second 
Isaiah,  135  et  seq.,  140  et  seq.;  in 
Jonah,  171-173 ;  ancient  Israel's 
conception  of,  24  et  seq.,  27,  37  et 


INDEX. 


185 


seq.,  83,  85 ;  Deuteronomy's  con- 
ception of,  84  ;  the  prophetic  con- 
ception of,  84,  94-95 ;  the  struggles 
of  the  God  of  the  people  with  the 
God  of  the  prophets,  72,  111-112; 
his  omnipotence  emphasised  by 
Deutero-Isaiah,  135  et  seq,;  his  ex- 
clusive divinityproclaimed  by  Deu- 
tero-Isaiah, 136-139;  his  supposed 
abandonment  of  his  people  after 
the  exile,  155  et  seq.;  his  arraign- 
ment and  justification  in  the  post- 
exilic  period,  158. 

God-belief  of  the  Israelites  compared 
with  the  religion  of  the  Persians, 
145. 

Goddess,  feminine  form  does  not  exist 
in  Hebrew,  23. 

Gog  of  Magog,  Ezekiel's,  123. 

Goldsmith,  makes  idols,  136-137, 

Gourd,  Jonah's,  172. 

Gibeon,  place  of  worship,  26. 

Gilgal,  place  of  worship,  26. 

Grass,  all  flesh  is,  133. 

Grasshoppers,  inhab.  of  earth  as,  136. 

Greek  Bible,  admits  Daniel  as  one 
of  the  major  prophets,  174. 

Greek  Catholic  chapel  at  Wiesbaden, 
30. 

Greeks,  their  intellectual  conquest 
of  the  Orient,  162-163  ;  struggle  of 
the  Jews  against,  175-177. 

Gregory  VII.,  Ezekiel  compared  to, 
116. 

Grundschrift,  of  the  Pentateuch,  159- 
160. 

Habakkuk,  prophet,  78-79. 
Haggai,  prophet,  150-152. 
Häjäh,  Hebrew  word,  to  be,  19. 
Halt,  how  long  will  ye,  between  two 

opinions,  31. 
Hamath,  in  Syria,  149. 
Hananiah,    false  prophet,   opponent 

of  Jeremiah,  103. 
Händel,  his  Messiah,  132. 
Haran,  in  Mesopotamia,  16. 
Harlot,  thy  wife  shall  be  an,  41. 
Hawä,  Arabic  verb,  to  fall,  20. 
Hellenism.     See  Greeks. 
Henotheism,  24. 


Henry  the  Fowler,  126. 

Herbs,  like  a  clear  heat  on,  66. 

Herdman,  But  I  was  an,  14,  41. 

Hermes,  9. 

Hezvä,  Aramaic  verb,  to  be,  19. 

Hezekiah,  king  of  Judah,  revolts 
against  his  Assyrian  suzerain,  64  et 
seq.;  his  reforms  of  the  worship, 
68,  71,  74. 

Hierarchy  of  heaven.  The,  derived 
from  Daniel,  174. 

Hilkiah,  priest,  delivers  Deuteron- 
omy to  Josiah's  scribe,  81. 

Historical  works  of  the  Jews,  com- 
piled during  the  exile,  125-128. 

Horeb,  or  Sinai,  20. 

Hosea,  censures  the  bloody  deeds 
of  Jehu,  33 ;  his  history,  character, 
and  achievements,  49-55 ;  his  con- 
ception of  God,  47-48  ;  his  domestic 
troubles  typical  of  his  religious  ac- 
tivity, 48-49;  his  view  of  God's  re- 
lation to  Israel,  49-50;  his  God  a 
God  of  love,  50-52 ;  his  fervor  and 
subjectivity,  51 ;  repudiates  pagan- 
ism and  idolatry,  52;  founds  the 
faith  and  theology  of  Israel,  53; 
his  portrayal  of  his  time,  53;  cre- 
ates the  theocracy  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, 54;  his  personal  martyr- 
dom, 54;  compared  with  Isaiah,  69; 
attributes  the  decay  of  Israel  to  the 
paganism  of  its  worship,  71 ;  con- 
trasted with  Jeremiah,  91-92 ;  on 
the  threatened  exile,  109,  127;  Jo- 
nah compared  with,  173. 

Hosts,  Lord  of.     See  Zebaoth. 

Huldah,  prophetess,  declares  in  favor 
of  Deuteronomy,  82. 

Humbly,  walk,  with  thy  God,  76. 

Hunnenschlacht ,  of  Kaulbach,  165. 

Hybris,  the  Greek,  79. 

Idolatry,  of  Ahab  and  Solomon,  30  et 

seq.;   satirised   by  Deutero-Isaiah, 

136  et  seq. 
Incense,  introduced  into  Judaea,  74. 
Individualism,  religious,  in  Jeremiah 

and  Ezekiel,   120. 
Indo-Europeans,    early    civilisation 

of,  6  et  seq. 


i86 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 


Inspiration,   divine,   idea    of,   intro- 
duced by  Deuteronomy,  90. 

Ipsus,  battle  of,  175. 

Isaac,  intended  sacrifice  of,  its  re- 
ligio-historical  meaning,  18. 

Isaiah,  compares  prophecy  to  a 
sealed  book,  i  ;  mentions  the  ser- 
aphs, 21 ;  describes  the  revels  in 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  38;  his 
rank  and  practical  character,  56  ; 
his  conception  of  God  and  His 
omnipotence,  57  ;  his  conception  of 
universal  history,  57 ;  his  idea  of 
the  "remnant"  and  "holy  seed," 
58  et  seq.;  his  conception  of  the 
future  kingdom  of  God,  59  et  seq.; 
his  invocation  of  the  judgment,  61  ; 
seeks  to  dictate  the  policy  of  Ahaz, 
62;  devotes  his  energies  to  the 
education  of  the  remnant,  63  ;  his 
view  of  the  Assyrian' s  divine  role, 
64-67;  his  theory  of  the  inviolabil- 
ity of  Mt.  Zion,  65-67,  75,  84,  103- 
104 ;  the  motive  pov.er  in  Heze- 
kiah's  reform,  68  ;  his  death,  in- 
fluence, and  character,  6S-69  ;  op- 
posed by  Micah,  70;  attributes  the 
decay  of  Israel  to  the  paganism  of 
its  worship,  71 ;  satirises  the  Jewish 
forms  of  worship,  72;  the  attitude 
of  Judah  towards  his  reforms,  72; 
compared  with  Ezekiel,  116. 
Isaiah,  the  Second  (also  called  Deu- 
tero-Isaiah),  his  work  embraces 
Chapters  40-66  of  the  canonical 
Book  of  Isaiah,  131 ;  flourishes  dur- 
ing the  Babylonian  captivity,  130- 
131 ;  personality  and  character,  131- 
132,  143;  despite  his  brilliancy  be- 
gins the  decline  of  prophecy,  132, 
143;  foretells  the  deliverance  of 
the  Jews,  132-135,  144 ;  names  Cyrus 
the  shepherd  and  anointed  of  God, 
135;  his  constant  emphasis  of  the 
omnipotence  of  God,  135  et  seq.; 
satirises  the  idols  of  the  heathen, 
136  et  seq.;  on  monotheism,  136  et 
seq.;  his  gorgeous  pictures  of  the 
new  Jerusalem,  139,155;  his  view 
of  Israel  as  the  prophet  and  servant 
of  God  to  the  whole  earth,  140-143, 


162;  compared  with  Jeremiah,  143; 
marks  the  separation  of  Judaism 
from  Israelitism,  143. 

Isaiah,  Chapters  24-27,  written  in  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  165; 
an  indication  of  the  revival  of  the 
prophetic  spirit,  167 ;  first  makes 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead  a  pos- 
tulate of  faith,  166-167. 

Islam,  3. 

Israel,  study  of  its  history,  2-4  ;  old- 
est historical  traditions  of,  16  et 
seq.;  its  pre-Mosaic  religion,  18; 
salient  points  of  its  religion  and 
ethics  before  the  prophets,  22  et 
seq.;  made  into  a  nation  by  Moses, 
25-26;  character  of  its  primitive 
divine  worship,  38  et  seq.;  Elijah's 
conception  of  its  mission,  34;  Amos 
predicts  its  downfall,  44 ;  its  reli- 
gion universalised  by  Amos,  45  ;  its 
theology  grows  out  of  Hosea,  53; 
condition  of,  in  the  time  of  Hosea, 
53-54;  converted  into  an  Assyrian 
province,  63  ;  captivity  of,  69,  109; 
God's  prophet,  servant  and  mes- 
senger to  the  world,  141  et  seq,,  162, 
178-179. 

Issus,  the  battle  of,  175. 

Jacob,  declare  unto,  his  transgres- 
sion, 36;  sees  the  angels  of  God, 
37;  as  a  maggot,  112,  141. 

Jahwe.     See  Yahveh. 

Jehoahaz,  king  of  Israel,  33. 

Jehoiachin,  king  of  Judah,  son  of 
Jehoiakim,  capitulates  to  Nebuch- 
adnezzar and  is  led  captive  to  Ba- 
bylon, 102,  115. 

Jehoiakim,  king  of  Judah,  persecutes 
the  prophets,  100;  burns  Jeremiah's 
book  of  prophecy,  102;  converted 
from  an  Assyrian  into  a  Babylon- 
ian vassal,  102;  revolts  against 
Nebuchadnezzar,  his  death,  102. 

Jehoram,  son  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel, 
30. 

Jehovah.     See  Yahveh. 

Jehu,  anointed  king,  13;  smites  the 
house  of  Ahab.  33. 

Jeremiah,   handicapped   by   Isaiah's 


INDEX. 


187 


ideas,  68  ;  on  Manasseh's  persecu- 
tion of  the  prophets,  74  ;  prophecy's 
noblest  offshoot  and  highest  culmi- 
nation, 91,  131-132,  143;  not  con- 
nected with  Deuteronomy,  91  ;  con- 
trasted with  Hosea,  48,  50,  91-92 ; 
his  life,  call,  and  wonderful  endow- 
ments, 92,  93  ;  his  conception  of  his 
office  and  of  his  relation  to  God, 
93-94 ;  his  human  shortcomings, 
94-95  ;  his  love  for  his  people,  95- 
96;  his  spiritualisation  and  broad- 
ening of  religion,  96-99;  details  of 
his  activity  and  achievements,  99- 
106;  his  sufferings  and  death,  106- 
107 ;  his  noble  and  undaunted  char- 
acter, 107;  the  predecessor  of  Eze- 
kiel,  117,120;  charged  with  preach- 
ing an  impotent  God,  118  ;  fixes  the 
period  of  the  Babylonian  exile,  no, 
127;  his  circumcision  of  the  heart, 
143;  compared  with  Deutero-Isaiah, 
140,  143,  with  Jonah,  173 ;  prophecy 
concerning  Edom,  165. 

Jeroboam  II.,  king  of  Israel,  splendor 
of  his  reign,  39  ;  the  sins  of,  cause 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  126- 
127. 

Jerusalem,  besieged  by  Rezin  of  Da- 
mascus and  Pekah  of  Israel,  62 ; 
besieged  by  Sennacherib,  67;  be- 
sieged by  Nebuchadnezzar,  104 ; 
taken  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  105  ;  re- 
built under  Cyrus,  146,  148 ;  dis- 
tressed condition  of  the  new  city, 
156 ;  centralisation  of  religious  wor- 
ship in,  84-88  ;  compared  with  Baby- 
lon, 112;  destruction  of,  predicted 
by  Ezekiel,  115 ;  compared  to  a 
rusty  pot,  118. 

Jerusalem,  The  New,  the  vision  of,  in 
Ezekiel,  122-124 ;  its  glories  de- 
picted by  Deutero-Isaiah,  139,  143, 

155. 

Jeshua.     See  Joshua. 

Jesse,  sprig  out  of  the  stem  of,  60. 

Jesus,  his  work  entirely  personal,  34  ; 
his  solution  of  the  religious  prob- 
lem, 84;  consciously  links  his  activ- 
ity to  that  of  the  ancient  Israelitic 
prophets,  178.     See  Christ. 


Jews,  their  life  during  the  Babylon- 
ian exile,  112-113,  125-130;  Deutero- 
Isaiah's  conception  of  their  relation 
to  the  Gentiles,  143;  liberated  by 
Cyrus,  144-146;  their  return  from 
the  exile,  144-149;  physical  and 
mental  condition  after  their  return, 
147-149,  153-155;  their  disappoint- 
ment and  lack  of  faith  after  the 
exile,  156;  their  neglect  of  their  re- 
ligious duties,  157;  character  and 
achievements  of  those  who  re- 
mained behind  in  Babylon:  draw 
the  last  conclusion  of  Deuteronomy 
and  write  the  juridical  parts  of  the 
first  book  of  the  Pentateuch,  159: 
return  to  Jerusalem  and  begin  the 
reform  known  as  Judaism,  160-161; 
withstand  the  Hellenisation  of  the 
Orient,  but  incur  by  their  exclusive- 
ness  the  hatred  and  contempt  of 
all  the  nations,  161-163  ;  under  the 
Ptolemies,  175  ;  repulse  the  attempt 
of  Antiochus  IV.  to  Hellenise  them, 
176;  found  a  new  Jewish  national 
state  under  the  Maccabees,  177 ;  the 
holiness  of  their  oath,  176.  See 
Jerusalejn,  Israel,  etc, 

Jezebel,  Ahab's  wife,  30-33. 

Jezreel,  14. 

Joel,  date  of  his  book,  represents  the 
degeneracy  of  prophecy,  154. 

John  the  Baptist,  prophecy  lives 
again  in.  178. 

Jonah,  popular  misconception  of,  170; 
the  significance  and  touching  char- 
acter of  his  work,  169-170,  173;  re- 
buked by  God,  172-173  ;  compared 
with  Hosea  and  Jeremiah,  173. 

Josephus,  coins  the  word  "theoc- 
racy," 124;  on  the  oath  of  the 
Jews,  175-176. 

Joshua  (=  Jeshua),  priest,  minister  of 
the  returned  exiles,  148;  high-priest, 
149;  assists  in  rebuilding  the  sec- 
ond temple,  151. 

Josiah,  king  of  Judah,  his  accession 
to  the  throne,  80 ;  his  influence  won 
by  the  prophetic  party,  81;  pro- 
claims Deuteronomy  as  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  kingdom,  82, 161; 


i88 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 


his  reforms  of  the  worship,  83,  90, 
127;  slain  at  the  battle  of  Megiddo, 
100;  character  and  achievements, 
99,  117-118. 

Judaea,  the  natural  port  of  entry  from 
Asia  to  Africa,  73,  146;  annexed  to 
the  kingdom  of  the  Ptolemies,  175  ; 
conquered  by  the  Seleucidae,  176; 
independent  under  the  house  of 
the  Maccabees,  177. 

Judah,  succeeds  Israel,  56;  critical 
period  of  its  history,  56,  62-68  ;  the 
"legitimacy"  of  its  government, 
59;  saved  by  Ahaz's  policy,  64  ;  in- 
vaded by  Sennacherib,  67 ;  under 
the  Assyrians,  72-73;  destroyed  as 
a  nation,  and  transformed  into  a 
church  by  the  Babylonian  exile, 
113-114. 

Judaism,  as  contradistinguished  from 
Israelitism,  created  by  the  Baby- 
lonian exile,  no,  113-114;  initiated 
by  Deutero-Isaiah,  143;  definitively 
established  by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah, 
its  character  and  influence,  161-164; 
contrasted  with  the  old  Israelitic 
ideas,  169;  transformed  into  Phari- 
saism, 176. 

Judgment,  let,  run  down  as  waters  ; 
establish,  in  the  gate,  43. 

Judgment,  the  divine,  its  function, 
127;  the  post-exilic,  predicted  by 
Malachi,  158.  See  the  different 
prophets. 

Justice,  as  the  cardinal  attribute  of 
God,  in  Amos,  45-47;  turned  to 
wormwood,  44. 

Kalchas,  soothsayer,  5. 

Karmel,  14. 

Y^2.w\\)2,z\C %  Hunnenschlacht ,  165. 

Kindness,  my,  shall  not  depart  from 

thee,  139. 
King,  a  counsellor,  in  Semitic,  7  ;    I 

am  a  great,  saith  the  Lord,  158. 
Kingdom  of  God,  Isaiah's  conception 

of,    59-61;     in    Deuteronomy,     83; 

Ezekiel's  description   of,   121-124 ; 

expected  after  the   exile,   153-154 ; 

the  idea  of,  in  Daniel,  174. 
Kings,  Book  of,  referred  to,  23,  53. 


Kir,  Have  I  not  brought  up  the  Sjrr- 

ians  from,  43. 
Kishon,  battle  of,  20. 
Köhen,  Hebrew,  for  priest,  8. 
Kosher,  its  meaning,  168. 

Labasi-Marduk,  king  of  Babylon,  129. 

Laity,  first  distinguished  from  the 
clergy,  87. 

Lame  in  both  legs,  like  a  man,  31. 

Language,  science  of,  as  a  help  in 
history,  6  et  seq. 

Lebanon,  in  the  glory  and  scent  of, 
50;  not  sufficient  to  burn,  136. 

Lees,  settled  on  their,  81. 

Legalism,  the  doctrine  of,  in  Juda- 
ism, 159. 

Leopard,  and  the  kid,  60. 

Levi,  the  tribe  of,  16,  87. 

Levites,  122. 

Leviticus,  written  by  the  post-exilic 
Babylonian  Jews,  159-160. 

Lies,  our  fathers  have  inherited,  98. 

Light,  Persian  worship  of,  145. 

Lion,  the,  hath  roared,  35. 

Lion's  den,  Daniel  in  the,  174. 

Longhand.     See  Artaxerxes. 

Lord  of  Hosts.     See  Zebaoth. 

Lord,  thy  God,  the,  a  phrase  coined 
by  Hosea,  52. 

Love,  as  an  attribute  of  God  in  Hosea, 
47-48 ;  in  Jonah,  173 ;  brotherly, 
emphasised  by  Ezekiel,  121. 

Lydia,  conquered  by  Cyrus,  129. 

Maccabees,  their  rebellion  and  foun- 
dation of  an  independent  Jewish 
state,  176-177;  their  state  destroyed 
by  the  idea  of  theocracy,  124. 

Macedonia,  175. 

Mad,  the  spiritual  man  is,  54, 

Maggot,  Jacob  as  a,  112,  141. 

Magog,  in  Ezekiel's  vision,  123. 

Major  prophets,  174. 

Malachi,  prophet,  leader  of  the  de- 
vout remnant,  156-159. 

Manasseh,  king  of  Judah,  73;  his 
persecution  of  the  prophets,  and 
his  idolatry,  74-75,  93;  his  sins 
cause  the  destruction  of  Judah  and 
Jerusalem,  75,  77, 127 ;  his  death,  80. 


INDEX. 


189 


liavTiq,  Greek  for  soothsayer,  5. 

Marshal^  its  etymology,  8. 

Mary,  as  the  mother  of  Christianity, 
Jewish  prophecy  compared  to,  178. 

Mazda- Yasnian,  Cyrus  a,  145. 

Medes,  attack  Assyria  and  take  Nine- 
veh, 76-78,  loi ;  conquered  by  the 
Persians,  129. 

Mediterranean  Sea,  29. 

Megiddo,  the  battle  of,  100. 

Melek,  Semitic  word  for  king,  7. 

Mene  Tekel,  the,  174. 

Mercury,  9. 

Mercy,  how  long  wilt  thou  not  have, 
153  ;  God,  plenteous  in,  172. 

Merodach,  Babylonian  God,  147. 

Mesopotamia,  16,  no. 

Messiah,  Handel's,  132. 

Messianic  King,  first  expected  by 
Isaiah,  59-61 ;  the  idea  of,  in  Eze- 
kiel,  119,  122-123;  not  mentioned 
byDeutero-Isaiah,  135 ;  Zerubbabel 
proclaimed  as  such  by  Haggai,  155, 
and  by  Zechariah,  152,  154  ;  Messi- 
anic hope.  Kingdom,  etc.,  159,  167. 

Micah,  prophet,  69-70;  on  true  and 
false  prophets,  35. 

Micah,  Chaps.  6-7,  75-76. 

Midas,  14. 

Milker,  Aryan  meaning  of  daughter,  7. 

Minor  prophets,  174. 

Miracles  of  Elijah,  31-33;  of  Elisha,33. 

Mizpah,  residence  of  Babylonian 
viceroy,  106. 

Moab,  excluded  from  the  general 
salvation  of  Isaiah,  Chapters  24-27, 
166. 

Moabites,  burn  an  Edomite  king,  46. 

Moloch,  sacrifices  to,  75  ;  worship  of, 
81. 

Monolatry,  oldest  form  of  Israelitic 
God-worship,  24. 

Monotheism,  did  not  exist  in  ancient 
Israel,  24,  45;  first  distinctly  enun- 
ciated by  Jeremiah,  97-98. 

Moral  law,  Amos  the  incorporation 
of  the,  42;  demands  the  destruction 
of  the  Assyrians,  79. 

Mosaism,  date  of  its  origin,   159-160. 

Moses,  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  16; 
makes  Aaron  his  "prophet,"  10; 


character  of  the  traditions  concern- 
ing, 17  ;  their  historical  value,  17  et 
seq.;  his  religion,  18  et  seq.;  indi- 
rect proof  of  his  work,  22  et  seq.; 
his  achievements,  23  et  seq.;  the 
forerunner  of  the  prophets,  36;  also 
72,  126. 

Mount  Hosea,  55. 

Mouth  of  God,  II. 

Müller,  Max,  24. 

Naba^a,  Semitic  root,  8-10. 

Näbi.  the  Hebrew  word  for  prophet, 
8-13. 

Nabopolassar,  9. 

Naboth,  the  Jezreelite,  judicial  mur- 
der of,  by  Ahab  and  Jezebel,  31  et 
seq. 

Nabu,  Babylonian  god,  9. 

Nabu-nahid,  or  Nabonidus,  Babylon- 
ian king,  129. 

Nahum,  prophet,  77-79. 

Napoleon,  126, 

Nassau,  Duke  of,  his  Greek  Catholic 
chapel  at  Wiesbaden,  30. 

Nathan,  prophet,  28. 

Nationality,  its  roots,  108-109. 

Nebäläh,  madness,  24. 

Nebo,  Babylonian  god,  9,  147. 

Nebuchadnezzar,  Babylonian  king, 
takes  Nineveh,  loi ;  defeats  Necho 
at  Carchemish,  loi;  viewed  by  Jere- 
miah as  the  weapon  of  God,  102; 
defeats  and  takes  captive  Jehoia- 
chin,  102;  takes  Jerusalem  and  leads 
the  Jews  into  captivity,  105-106;  his 
towering  personality  and  charac- 
ter, 128-129 ;    origin  of  his  name,  9. 

Necho,  Egyptian  king,  defeats  Josiah 
at  Megiddo,  100  ;  defeated  at  Car- 
chemish by  Nebuchadnezzar,  loi. 

Nehemiah,  Persian  governor  of  Ju- 
daea, associate  of  Ezra  and  co- 
founder  of  Judaism,  160-163. 

Nergalsharezer,  king  of  Babylon,  129. 

New  moons,  feast  of,  23. 

Nile,  39. 

Nineveh,  attacked  by  the  Medes,  yy- 
78 ;  its  fall,  loo-ioi  ;  Jonah  pro- 
claims the  judgment  on,  171  et  seq.; 
saved  by  God,  172-173. 


igo 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 


Oath,    of    the    Jews,   in    Hellenistic 

times,  176. 
Obadiah,  prophet,  165. 
Old  Testament  history  and  research, 

i,3>4.  6. 

Old  Testament,  Spinoza  on,  125. 

Omri,  the  dynasty  of,  33. 

Oracle,  ancient  Israelitic,  its  func- 
tions, 25,  87;  abolished  by  Deuter- 
onomy, 85, 


Paganism,  in  Israel  and  Judah,  38, 
52,  74-75. 

Palestine,  16,  26,  30. 

Palestrina,  his  musical  setting  of  the 
verses  of  Micah,  75. 

Pantheon,  of  the  heathen  Semites,  21. 

Passover,  feast  of,  23,  26. 

Pastoral  care  of  souls,  119  et  seq. 

Patriarchs,  72. 

Pekah,  king  of  Israel,  attacks  Ahaz 
of Judah, 62;  conquered  and  exe- 
cuted by  Tiglath-Pileser,  63. 

Pentateuch,  its  analysis  by  De  Wette, 
83  ;  juridical  parts  of  the  first  books 
of,  written  by  the  post-exilic  Baby- 
lonian Jews,  159. 

Pentecost,  the  feast  of,  86. 

Pergamon,  the  kingdom  of,  175. 

Persecution,  only  intensifies  religious 
zeal,  93. 

Persians,  under  Cyrus,  129  ;  their  re- 
ligion, 145  ;  overthrow  Babylon,  144, 
156,  and  succor  the  Jews,  147  ;  sub- 
due Egypt,  149;  consolidated  by 
Darius,  150-154;  their  empire  de- 
stroyed by  Alexander  the  Great,  165. 

Pharaoh,  Egyptian  king,  10. 

Pharisaism,  Judaism  transformed 
into,  176. 

Philistines,  43,  44. 

Phoenician  prophets,  12. 

Phraortes,  king  of  the  Medes,  lays 
siege  to  Nineveh,  77. 

Pindar,  11. 

Plat,  I  will  requite  thee  in  this,  32. 

Ploughshares,  turned  into  swords, 
165. 

Polytheism,  24. 

Potter,  as  the,  treadeth  clay,  134= 


Pouring  out  of  the  spirit,  165. 

Praise,  shall  call  thy  gates,  140. 

Prayer,  my  house  a  house  of,  140. 

Precious  from  the  vile,  freeing  the, 
94.  171- 

Prepare  ye  in  the  wilderness  a  way, 
132. 

Priesthood,  old  Israelitic  concep- 
tion of,  modified  by  Deuteronomy, 
87  et  seq.;  all  its  members  de- 
scended from  the  tribe  of  Levi,  87  ; 
gradually  takes  the  place  of  proph- 
ecy, 90;  its  transformation  in  the 
post-exilic  period,  149;  its  post- 
exilic  backsliding  from  God,  156. 

Priestly  code,  of  the  post-exilic  Bab- 
ylonian Jews,  also  called  the  fun- 
damental writing  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, 159-160. 

Prince  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  in  Eze- 
kiel,  122-124. 

Prophecy,  compared  to  a  sealed  book, 
1;  pre-requisites  of  a  knowledge 
of,  2;  meaning  of  the  term,  3-15; 
originally  a  foreign  element  in  the 
Israelitic  religion,  14  ;  its  activity 
always  coincident  with  historical 
catastrophes,  34-35;  the  rise  of 
written,  37  et  seq.;  its  practical  in- 
fluence in  Isaiah,  68 ;  attacks  the 
religion  of  the  people,  71 ;  how  in- 
fluenced by  Deuteronomy,  82  et 
seq.;  abdicates  in  favor  of  the 
priesthood,  89-go;  Jeremiah's  con- 
ception of,  93-94,  95;  reaches  its 
highest  consummation  in  Jeremiah, 
98;  wins  a  triumph  over  the  popu- 
lar religion  in  the  Babylonian  exile, 
III ;  applied  in  the  historical  liter- 
ature of  Israel,  127;  its  character, 
etc.,  in  the  period  after  the  exile, 
149  et  seq.;  change  of  its  style,  in 
Zechariah,  becoming  literary  in 
form,  152;  lowest  degradation  and 
caricature  of,  in  Zechariah,  Chap- 
ters 9-14,  167-169;  flares  upward 
victorious  for  the  last  time  in  Jonah 
and  Daniel,  169,  170,  177;  Israel's 
costliest  and  noblest  bequest  to  the 
world,  173,  179 ;  superior  to  any 
other   intellectual    production    of 


INDEX. 


191 


mankind,  178  ;  its  relation  to  Chris- 
tianity, 178;  its  tremendous  signifi- 
cance to  the  world,  178 ;  called 
Mary  the  mother  of  Christianity, 
178;  God's  noblest  gift  of  grace, 
178. 
Prophet,  originally  not  a  foreteller 
of  the  future,  5  et  seq.;  etymologi- 
cal analysis  of  the  Hebrew  word, 
8-13 ;  the  primitive  Canaanite  type, 

13  et  seq.;  the  storm-petrels  of  the 
world's  history,  35;  the  true  char- 
acter of  the  Israelitic  prophet,  35 
at  seq.;  Israel  God's  prophet  to  the 
whole  earth,  141  et  seq.,  162. 

wpo(l>r]TTjq,  Greek  for  prophet,  mean- 
ing of,  5,  II. 

Prophetic  exposition  of  the  history 
of  Israel  in  the  Babylonian  exile, 
126-128. 

Prophets,  general  ignorance  of  their 
significance,  1-2;    the   schools   of, 

14  et  seq.,  28  ;  the  reaction  against, 
under  Manasseh,  71-79;  their  per- 
secution infuses  in  them  new  life, 
80;  their  influence  with  Josiah,  81 ; 
their  altered  relation  to  God  after 
the  exile,  152  ;  the  distinctive  note 
of  all  their  religious  activity,  154 ; 
post-exilic  reaction  against  their 
predictions,  155-156. 

Pruning-hooks,  turned  into    spears, 

165. 
Psaltery,  tablet,  etc.,  prophets  with 

a,  12. 
Ptolemies,  the  Egyptian,  support  the 

Jews,  175. 
Pyrrhic  victory  of  prophecy,  89. 

Quietness,  in,  shall  ye  be  saved,  57. 

Ramah,  place  of  worship,  26. 
Razor,  that  is  hired,  shaved  with,  63. 
Rechabites,    abstainers    from  wine, 

Jeremiah's  approval  of,  97. 
Reed,  a  bruised,  shall  he  not  break, 

142. 
Reform,  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  160 

et  seq.;  of  Josiah,  83,  90,  127. 
Reins,  God  tries  the  heart  and  the, 


an  expression  coined  by  Jeremiah, 
97- 

Religion,  Israel's  first  impulses  al- 
ways spring  from,  27;  as  defined 
by  Amos,  42;  by  Hosea,  52;  saved 
by  Isaiah,  69 ;  its  power  among 
primitive  peoples,  71,  108-109;  its 
fundamental  problem,  the  relation 
of  God  and  the  world,  83;  Deuter- 
onomy's conception  of,  83-84,  89; 
Jeremiah's  conception  of,  96-99; 
Jesus's  conception  of,  84;  reduced 
by  Deuteronomy  to  three  great 
feasts,  86-87 ;  reaches  its  highest 
Old  Testament  consummation  in 
Jeremiah,  98-99  ;  Ezekiel's  viewof, 
119;  made  a  matter  of  a  book  by 
Deuteronomy,  152;  its  neglect  after 
the  exile,  157;  universal,  the  idea 
of,  first  clearly  conceived  by  Isra- 
elitic prophecy,  45,  178. 

Remembrance-book,  God's,  158. 

Remnant,  Isaiah's,  58,  63;  sifted  out 
in  the  Babylonian  captivity,  113. 

Rend,  the  kingdom  out  of  the  hand  of 
Solomon,  Behold  I  will,  28. 

Resurrection  of  the  dead,  first  taught 
as  a  postulate  of  faith  in  Isaiah, 
Chapters  24-27, 166-167;  becomes  a 
dogma  in  Daniel,  174. 

Revealed  religion,  conception  of,  in- 
troduced by  Deuteronomy,  90. 

Revelry,  at  the  ancient  Israelitic  fes- 
tivals, 28  et  seq. 

Rezin,  last  king  of  Damascus,  con- 
quered and  executed  by  Tiglath- 
Pileser,  62,  63. 

Righteousness,  in,  shalt  thou  be  es- 
tablished, 140;   also  144,  166. 

Robber,  Assyrian  compared  to,  78. 

Rock,  beside  Me,  Is  there  a,  139. 


Sabbath,  known  to  the  old  Babylon- 
ians, 26;  made  a  fundamental  in- 
stitution of  Judaism  by  Ezekiel, 
120-121. 

Sacrifices,  in  ancient  Israel,  37  et 
seq.;  the  ancient  Israelitic  concep- 
tion of,  85-86;  revolutionised  by 
Deuteronomy,  87-88, 


192 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 


Salvation,  by  works,  159  ;  thy  walls, 
called,  140. 

Samaria,  30,  39,  44,  118. 

Samuel,  not  a  prophet  but  a  seer,  12; 
his  character  and  historical  import, 
27-28 ;  the  mother  of,  at  the  festival 
of  Shiloh,  38,  126. 

Sanctuaries,  the  ancient  local,  85. 

Sanskrit,  9. 

Sargon,  Assyrian  king,  64. 

Saul,  among  the  prophets,  12-13;  his 
character  misjudged,  28,  29. 

Scales,  weigh  the  mountains  in,  136. 

Scythians,  devastate  Asia,  76,  99. 

Sealed  book,  prophecy  a,  i. 

Seamen,  heathen,  their  behavior  con- 
trasted with  that  of  Jonah's,  171. 

Seed,  holy,  of  Isaiah,  58. 

Seer,  for  prophet,  12. 

Seleucidae,  conquer  Egypt  and  at- 
tempt to  Hellenise  the  Jews,  176; 
repulsed  by  the  Maccabees,  176-177. 

Semites,  their  religion,  7;  their  lan- 
guage, 5  et  seq. 

Sennacherib,  Assyrian  king,  66;  at- 
tacks Judah  and  besieges  Jerusa- 
lem, 62,  72. 

Seraiah,  the  last  priest  of  the  old 
temple  of  Jerusalem,  148. 

Seraphs,  original  meaning  of,  21. 

Servant,  Israel,  my,  141-142. 

Shake  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  151. 

Shaphan,  Josiah's  scribe,  delivers 
Deuteronomy  to  the  king,  81. 

Sheep,  like,  for  the  slaughter,  94. 

Shepherd,  the  Messiah  compared  to 
a  good,  by  Ezekiel,  119;  of  God, 
Cyrus  called  the,  135. 

Sheshbazzar,  Persian  commissary, 
heads  the  return  of  the  Jews,  147. 

Shiloh,  place  of  worship,  26,  38. 

Sichem,  place  of  worship,  26; 

Sieve,  Babylonian  captivity  com- 
pared to  a.  III. 

Sign,  from  God,  Ahaz  challenged  by 
Isaiah  to  ask  for  a,  62;  between 
God  and  Israel,  i2i. 

Signet,  make  Zerubbabel,  as  a,  151. 

Sin,  the  propitiation  of,  as  viewed 
by  Deuteronomy,  88. 

Sinai,  its  connexion  with  Moses  and 


the  religion  of  Israel,  18-21 ;  pen- 
insula of,  21. 

Sins,  Israel  knew  only  sins,  no 
crimes,  25  ;  of  Israel,  the  prophets' 
constant  reference  to,  164. 

Sisera,  the  stars  fight,  27. 

Sistine  Chapel,  75. 

Slave,  I  am  thy  son  and,  63. 

Slaves,  Hebrew,  set  free  to  save  Je- 
rusalem, but  afterwards  basely 
forced  into  new  servitude,  105. 

Slow  of  speech  and  tongue,  10. 

Smith,  makes  idols,  137. 

Sodom,  justified,  118. 

Solomon,  his  worship  of  idols,  23,  30; 
his  despotic  government,  23  ;  inter- 
pretation of  his  supposed  idolatry, 
30;  opens  Israel  to  the  world,  30. 

Son  of  Man,  expression  used  by  Eze- 
kiel, 116;  designation  of  the  Messi- 
anic ruler  as  the,  in  Daniel,  174. 

Souls,  Ezekiel's  pastoral  care  of,  119 
et  seq. 

Sour  grapes,  our  fathers  have  eaten, 
etc.,  117. 

Spinoza,  his  view  of  the  historical 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  125. 

Spirit,  of  wisdom  and  understanding, 
60 ;   the  pouring  out  of  the,  165. 

Stars,  Assyrian  worship  of,  in  Judaea, 
74,  81,  118,  127;  fight  for  Israel,  27. 

State  and  Church,  opposition  of,  cre- 
ated by  Deuteronomy,  88-89,  114. 

State,  ecclesiastical,  Ezekiel's  ideal 
of,  122-124. 

Strength,  his  God,  79. 

Stubble,  as  driven,  to  his  bow,  134. 

Sycomore-fruit,  gatherer  of,  14,  41. 

Symbols,  in  Zechariah's  visions,  152. 

Synagogue,  excludes  Daniel  from 
the  prophetic  writings,  174. 

Syncretism,  religious,  31. 

Syria,  invaded  by  the  Assyrians,  73; 
under  Antiochus  IV.,  176. 

Syrians,  Have  I  not  brought  up  the, 
from  Kir,  43. 

Tabernacles,  feast  of,  26,  86. 
Tarshish   (Tartessus),  Jonah  flees  to, 

171,  172. 
Tatnai,  Persian  satrap,  154. 


INDEX. 


193 


Tears,  that  my  eyes  were  a  fountain 

of,  95- 

Teeth,  prophets  that  bite  with  their, 
35  ;  children's  on  edge,  117. 

Teiresias,  soothsayer,  5. 

Tekoa,  Amos's  home,  40, 

Temple,  the  new,  begun  and  com- 
pleted, 151, 154  ;  feeling  of  the  Jews 
towards,  155. 

Testify  against  me,  75. 

Testimony,  bind  up  the,  63. 

Theocracy,  so-called,  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, originates  with  Hosea,  54; 
its  realisation  possible  only  under 
foreign  rule,  123-124. 

Theodicy,  or  vindication  of  God,  the 
Jews'  need  of,  in  the  exile,  126. 
See  also  Ezekiel. 

Theology  of  history,  Deutero-Isaiah's, 
143- 

Tiglath-Pileser,  Assyrian  king,  the 
suzerain  of  Ahaz,  conquers  Damas- 
cus and  Israel,  62-63. 

Trumpet,  Shall  a,  be  blown  ?  35. 

Tyre,  30. 

Unchastity,  religious,  23-24. 

Unclean  things  in  Assyria,  eat,  109. 

Universal,  history,  Isaiah's  concep- 
tion of,  57-58;  religion,  the  idea  of, 
first  clearly  conceived  by  Israelitic 
prophecy,  45,  178. 

Urijah,  prophet,  executed  by  Jehoia- 
kim,  100. 

Uzziah,  king,  61. 

Vile,  freeing  of  the  precious  from, 

94.  171. 
Vineyard  of  Naboth,  31  et  seq. 
Virgin,  of  Israel,  is  fallen,  40. 
Visions,  of  Zechariah,  152-153. 

Walther  von  der  Vogelweide,  126, 
Watchman,  over  the  house  of  Israel, 

Ezekiel's  definition  of  a  prophet, 

119;  also  35. 
Waters,  O  that  my  head  were,  95. 
Wearied,  ye  have,  the  Lord,  157, 
Weeks,  feast  of,  26,  86. 
Whale,  Jonah's,  170. 


Wickedness,  wicked  man,  etc.,  32, 
"9.  157.  158,  166. 

Wine  and  strong  drink,  I  will,  proph- 
esy of,  35. 

Wine-drinking,  Jeremiah  on,  97. 

Works,  salvation  by,  in  later  Juda- 
ism, origin  and  meaning,  159. 

Worm,  Jacob  as  a,  112,  141. 

Wormwood,  justice  turned  to,  44. 

Worship,  paganism  in,  causes  the 
decay  of  Israel,  71 ;  the  reforms  of, 
by  Hezekiah,  68 ;  how  viewed  by 
the  Jews,  72 ;  by  Josiah,  82,  83,  90  ; 
centralised  by  Deuteronomy  in  Je- 
rusalem, 84-88. 

Wrath,  O  day  of,  76-77;  cup  of,  94,  loi. 

Writ,  holy,  idea  of,  introduced  by 
Deuteronomy,  90. 

Yahveh,  original  Hebrew  pronuncia- 
tion of  Jehovah,  17  ;  the  name  in- 
troduced by  Moses,  18-19;  etymo- 
logical meaning,  19-21 ;  originally 
a  tempest-god  worshipped  on  Mt. 
Sinai,  20-21 ;  worshipped  under  the 
image  of  a  bull,  37,  52;  His  ex- 
clusiveness  and  intimate  relation 
to  Israel,  25,  31;  prophets  of,  30. 

Yokes  of  wood,  thou  hast  broken, 
etc.,  103. 

Zarephath,  the  widow  of,  succored 
by  Elijah,  31. 

Zebaoth,  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  a  name 
coined  by  Amos,  46. 

Zeboim,  Shall  I  set  thee  as,  52. 

Zechariah,  prophet,  152-153 ;  vision 
of,  2. 

Zechariah,  Chapters  9-14,  dates  from 
the  third  century,  shows  the  lowest 
degradation  of  the  prophetic  litera- 
ture of  Israel,  167-169. 

Zedekiah,  king  of  Judah,  seated  on 
the  throne  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  1-2; 
his  revolt  against  Nebuchadnezzar, 
103-104  ;  taken  captive  and  led  to 
Babylon  in  chains,  105-106. 

Zephaniah,  prophet,  76  et  seq.;  his 
description  of  Josiah's  corrupt 
court,  81. 


194 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL. 


Zerubbabel,  grandson  of  king  Jehoi- 
achin,  minister  of  Sheshbazzar, 
148;  Persian  viceroy  of  Judaea, 
hailed  as  the  Messianic  King  by 
Haggai,  150-151,  and  by  Zechariah, 
152;  receives  the  golden  crown 
from  the  Jews  of  Babylon,  154 ; 
lays  the  foundations  of  the  second 
temple,  151,  and  completes  it,  154. 


Zeus,  II. 

Zion,  Isaiah's  dogma  of  the  inviol- 
ability of,  65,  75,  103-104 ;  the  op- 
posed doctrine  in  Micah,  70;  the 
dwelling-place  of  God,  84 ;  the 
feast  of  the  converted  nations  on, 
166. 


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